THE LIBRARY 
 
 OF 
 
 THE UNIVERSITY 
 OF CALIFORNIA 
 
 LOS ANGELES
 
 SYLVIA SSA3UHY 
 
 ! 
 
 "HARRY KAZSL" 
 

 
 OB 
 
 YANKEES IN JAPAN 
 
 THE ROMANTIC ADVENTURES OF A SAILOR-BOY. 
 
 THE WHALEB, KING PHILIP, OW THE COAST OF JAPAN. 
 
 BY HARRY HAZEL, 
 
 AUTHOR OF 
 
 YANKEE JACK," "THE THREE PIRATES" "GALLANT TOM," "RED KING," ETC. 
 
 ILLT7STEATED. 
 
 A tale of romantic and stirring adventure by sea and land. One of those thrilling stories which always attai 
 popularity. Robinson Crusoe, in his lonely island of the Pacific, never experienced more romantic vicissitudes ilia. 
 4Ui the heio ot tbU amusing narrative among the far-off Orie n tals. 
 
 T. B. PETERSON AND BROTHERS, 
 
 306 CHESTNUT STREET.
 
 SYLVIA SEABURY: 
 
 OK, 
 
 THE YANKEES IN JAPAN. 
 
 
 BY HARRY HAZEL,- 
 
 t tJTHOR OP " OLD PUT ; OR THE DAYS OF 1776," " THE BRIGAND, OR THE MOUNTAIN 
 
 CHIEF," "THE FLYING ARTILLERIST," "YANKEE JACK," "THE REBEL AND THE 
 
 KOVER," "THE THREE PIRATES, OR THE CRUISE OF THE TORNADO," 
 
 "GALLANT TOM," "RED KING, OR THE CORSAIR CHIEFTAIN," "HARRY 
 
 HELM; OR CRUISE OF THE BLOODHOUND," "FLYING DUTCHMAN," 
 
 "DOOMED SHIP," "GALLOPING GUS," "JACK JUNK," "YANKEE 
 
 MIDDY," " SWEENY TODD," "THE GOLD SEEKERS," "RALPH 
 
 RUNNION," " VALDEZ, THE PIRATE," " KING'S CRUISERS," 
 
 "THE REBEL BRIDE," "HARRY TEMPEST," "THE 
 
 FLYING YANKEE," "THE PIRATE'S SON," ETC. 
 
 J)l)Ua&elpl)ia: 
 
 T. B. PETERSON & BROTHERS, 
 
 306 CHESTNUT STREET.
 
 i 
 
 YANKEES IN JAPAN; 
 
 OR, THE 
 
 ROMANTIC ADVENTURES OF A SAIIOR BOY 
 
 CHAPTER I. 
 
 Ths Whaler Arrival of a pair >:f Green Hands A " striking" 
 Incident Ike Embarkation. 
 
 THE remarkable incidents of the " plain, unvarnished tale," 
 which we propose to indite, are comprised within a period of 
 about nine years, the concluding one of which " came off" quite 
 recently ; and, we trust, that they will lose none of their ro 
 mantic interest because they did not occur in "days of auld 
 lang syne ;" nor because of their truthfulness ; nor because 
 nearly all the characters who figured therein are either living 
 or moving, or have lived and moved, in our very midst, not in 
 corporeal shadows, or creatures of the imagination, but genu 
 ine beings, having all the faculties and senses of the most 
 favored of us poor mortals. But, without further preface, we 
 proceed to make record of certain events, which have .made 
 much commotion in certain quarters, and a deep impression on 
 a mind not apt to be affected by trifles. 
 
 The beautiful and picturesque maritime town of N 
 
 situated something less than fifty leagues from the overgrown 
 metropolis of the Bay State, is too well known to require a 
 minute description from us. It will quite suffice to remark 
 that, although at one period of its history, it bid fair to become 
 
 489490 
 
 ENGLISH
 
 6 YANKEES IN JAPAN J OR, 
 
 the rival of Boston in point of commercial enterprise, the place 
 is now much better known as a summer resort for beauty and 
 fashion, than for any importance attached to it because of its 
 excellent harbor, or of its limited amount of shipping. Once it 
 could boast of its whaling fleet, but now a regular blubber 
 hunter is seldom moored in its waters. 
 
 Some eight or nine years ago, however, a large and noble- 
 looking ship, having all the necessary paraphernalia of a whaler 
 aboard, was lying-to about two cables' length from the pier 
 whbh she had cast off from but half an hour previous, and 
 appeared to be in waiting for the pilot or some one of her com 
 pany, before bracing her canvas to the freshly-blowing north 
 west wind. While she was thus lying, like a curbed racer im 
 patient for the start, two persons, having not the slightest 
 appearance of ever having ventured beyond soundings, came 
 among the group of spectators on the pier, who were there 
 simply out of curiosity to see the ship put her prow seaward. 
 
 The eldest of these two strangers for strangers they were 
 to a " salt" atmosphere was a broad-shouldered, athletic-looking 
 man of some thirty years of age, with sun-browned and freckled 
 features, a sandy complexion, with a profusion of red hair, 
 hanging in uncombed ringlets over the greasy collar of a dila 
 pidated brown coat, which from its long narrow tails and short 
 waist, must have been fashioned to his back long before he had 
 got his growth. The other articles of his wardrobe were per 
 fectly in keeping with the coat, and, altogether, he certainly 
 made a very unique appearance. But this was merely the 
 outward man, and as men are too generally judged by their 
 external appearance, we leave future events as evidence of 
 what sort of stuff he was made of. That he had held the 
 plough, wielded the axe, and swung the scythe, his hands and 
 his visage indicated ; and hands inured to such toil, must be 
 vvell tempered to pull at the oar, for reefing canvas, or striking 
 the harpoon to the vitals of ocean's leviathans. 
 
 His companion, one would suppose, at a casual glance, 
 almost belonged to another order of beings. He was a youth 
 of about eighteen years of age, and a handsomer or more noble- 
 looking boy, both in form and feature, Yankee land could 
 scarcely boast of among her sons. He was the picture of 
 health, with ruddy cheeks, large, clear blue eyes, with a pro 
 fusion of fine, curly brown hair, flowing gracefully from beneath 
 his cap. His forehead was broad, and every feature expressive 
 of intelligence. He seemed far better adapted for the univer 
 sity, or the military academy, than for the forecastle of the good 
 ship " King Philip," whose shipping papers he had that day 
 signed, in company with his rough looking companion. Little
 
 THE ROMANTIC ADVENTURES OF A SAILOR BOY. 
 
 could the youth have known of the perils he-had volunteered 
 to encounter, or it would seem that he would have chosen any 
 other occupation in preference to that of whaling. But cir 
 cumstances often compel individuals to do the very opposite of 
 that which would appear consistent with their characters. 
 Thus was it with Paul Payson, the youth before us, who had, 
 for certain reasons, with which the reader will soon be in 
 formed, resolved to flee from the land of his birth ; and, for the 
 sole reason that he was about to leave terra finna, will account 
 lor his having a companion in Zabdiel Stubbs. 
 
 On reaching the foot of the pier they were quite out of breath, 
 having run a mile or more, in fear that the ship would sail with 
 out them.. 
 
 " Helloa ! yeou, capting !" shouted Zabdiel; "jest steer the 
 King Philip up here so we can get into her!" 
 
 This " hail" drew a shout of laughter from the by-standers, as 
 well as many derisive expressions, which were not clearly in 
 telligible to the "green hand," but from the angry looks which 
 flashed from Paul's e)es, and the quivering of his lips, it was 
 certain that he comprehended their meaning. 
 
 A gentleman, who was standing by, stepped up to Stubbs. 
 and informed him that it would be decidedly inconvenient for 
 the ship to come alongside, and if he desired to be taken aboard, 
 he had better hail for the boat. 
 
 " Helloa !" again shouted the countryman ; " paddle yer canoe 
 ihis way ! Dod rot it, yeou, capting, 1 hope yeou don't calki- 
 Jate on leaving a faller ahind !" 
 
 This brought down a louder and more general peal of 
 laughter than Zab's first essay at hailing. 
 
 "Dod rot it, what yeou all a larfin at?" he inquired, staring 
 at the group. 
 
 " Are you one o' the King Philip's crew ?" asked one of those 
 who were inclined to be severely jocose at Stubbs's expense. 
 
 " Wai, I rayther calkilate I shall be," replied Stubbs, in 
 drawling tones, "if I kin only get myself into her." 
 
 " What's the price o' garden sass ?" asked another of the 
 idlers. 
 
 " How d'ye leave your gal ?" 
 
 " What'll yer take for a half o' yard o' that coat-tail, s-a-ay ?" 
 
 " Give us a lock o' that tow under yer hat, old boy !" 
 
 " Duz yer mammy know yer out ?" 
 
 These and a volley of other jeering remarks came from the 
 idlers; and one fellow, emboldened by Stubbs's good nature, 
 ventured to impose upon him in a manner which nearly cost 
 him his life. He was standing just in the rear of the butt 
 of the company, and, drawing a sheath-knife, he severed in an
 
 8 YANKEES IN JAPAN J OK, 
 
 instant one half of Zab's "long tail blue," and waived it over 
 his head in triumph! 
 
 Before Zab could wheel about, young Paul, who had borne 
 the insults heaped upon his companion as long as even a peace 
 ful disposition would permit, suddenly confronted the offender, 
 and striking him a severe blow under the left eat, he was 
 felled, not to the earth, but into the water! for he was standing 
 within a yard of the edge of the pier. Unfortunately, the fel 
 low could not swim, and if he had been ever so expert in this 
 almost indispensable accomplishment, he was so stunned by the 
 blow, that he would have been drowned, had not assistance 
 been at hand. 
 
 Paul, who had not calculated the results of the blow, being 
 apprehensive that the fellow's life was in danger, was the first 
 to go to his rescue. In he plunged, without removing cap or 
 jacket, and seizing the discomfited one by the coat collar, held 
 his head above water, until Zab, fearing for both, also leaped 
 in, and b.y the efforts of both, succeeded in getting the punished 
 offender into a safer element. 
 
 The jeering remarks of the idlers, were now changed to 
 cheering ejaculations, for they had optical evidence that, how 
 ever uncouth and verdant was the countryman, he had courage 
 and humanity sufficient to risk his own life to save that of a 
 fellow being. The heroic conduct of Paul, however, in resent 
 ing the insult to his companion by the curtailment of his coat, 
 and his promptitude in assisting the culprit out of his perilous 
 situation, met with the heartiest approval. 
 
 Meanwhile this scene was being enacted, Captain Harold of 
 the King Philip came to the end of the pier for the purpose of 
 Koing aboard. He saw the curtailment of the coat, the aveng 
 ing blow, and the prompt rescue, but he had yet to learn that 
 the names of two of the participators were registered on the 
 shipping papers of his vessel. 
 
 '' King Philip, ahoy !" hailed the master. 
 
 "Ay, ay, sir!" came a response; and quickly a bo? t was 
 manned and was soon pulled alongside the wharf. 
 
 The captain stepped aboard the boat ; and so did Paul and 
 Zabdiel, somewhat to the surprise of the former. 
 
 " Halloo ! where are you going ?' ejaculated the master. 
 
 " Wai, capting, I rayther guess I'm going to sea," replied Zab. 
 
 " When did you ship?" 
 
 " H-a-y ?" drawled Zab, not comprehending the interroga 
 tory. 
 
 " I wish to know if you belong to the crew of the King 
 Philip?" 
 
 " I reckon I dew, and Paul tew. We signed to go, yester 
 day, in Bosting got a leetle cash \p advance, tew." 

 
 THE ROMANTIC ADVENTURES OF A SAILOR BOY. 8 
 
 " Have you got your chests aboard ?" ' 
 
 " We didn't buy chests, but we have got an all-firec slap-up 
 hair trunk between us." 
 
 " You shipped as green-hands, I presume ?" queried the cap- 
 lain. 
 
 4 ' Wai, mebbe we're green, and mebbe we ain't," replied 
 Zabdiel. "I can lift a quarter of a ton, and pull half as much 
 as an ox ; and as for Paul he can climb like a squirrel, lick 
 twice his weight in human cattle, and can write, cipher, and 
 spell like a school- rnarra." 
 
 "Excellent recommendation for whalemen," remarked Cap 
 tain Harold. " Pull away, boys !" he continued, addressing 
 the oarsmen ; " the tide begins to ebb and we must get into 
 blue water before it is dark." 
 
 In a few minutes all were upon the deck of the noble ship 
 the helm was put hard down fore-topmast staysail and jib run 
 up topsails and top-gallant sails braced to catch the breeze, 
 and the good craft, named after the sovereign of Mount Hope, 
 was bowling away towards old Nep's domain, favored by wind 
 and tide, at the rate of nine knots per hour. 
 
 " Wai," says Zabdiel, to his young companion, whose 
 thoughts were dwelling upon his rural home, " if this be going 
 to sea 1 rayther like it; but I only wish the tarnal vessel 
 would go a leetle steadier it kinder riles a faller's stummick." 
 
 " Aloft, boys, atei unfurl r'yals," ordered the first officer, 'ad 
 dressing some three or four youngsters. 
 
 " Ay, ay, sir," they responded simultaneously, and like so 
 many cats they sprang into the main and fore-rigging, and in a 
 few moments were laying out upon the yards. 
 
 " What's your name, sir ?" asked the mate, addressing our 
 young hero. 
 
 " Paul Payson." 
 
 " This, I take it, is your first voyage ?" 
 
 " Yes, sir." 
 
 " While we're in smooth water, you may as well practice 
 going aloft," said the mate, kindly, -tor he was prepossessed in 
 favor of the youth at the first glance. " Think you can follow 
 those boys ?" 
 
 " I'll try, sir ;" and without another word he mounted the 
 main rigging, and reached the* royal yard, almost as readily as 
 did his young shipmates. 
 
 " That boy '11 make a sailor," observed the mate, as he 
 watched Pau.1 in his first trial at going aloft. 
 
 " He's used to climbing," said Zabdiel. 
 
 * He told me he'd never been to sea ?" 
 
 * That's gospil trewth, for I've known him ever since he wa
 
 10 YANKEES IN JAPAN } OR, 
 
 knei-nigh to a hopper-grass ; and as for climbing I've known 
 him to go up our meetin'-us lightnin' rod in a thunder storm ; 
 but I say, yeou, dew yeou call this smewth water ?" 
 
 " To be sure I do, and you'll be o' rny way o' thinking before 
 you're twenty-four hours older," replied the officer ; " when 
 you see the seas running as high as the Green Mountains, then 
 you may call it rough." 
 
 "Creashun and cauliflowers!" exclaimed Zab ; "I shan't be 
 able to stand it, I know I shan't ! I feel now as if yes, by 
 hokey, I shall buttermilk soon, I " 
 
 But we forbear to pursue the raw sailor's very common com 
 plaint with novices at sea. We must now make a retrograde 
 movement, in order to record certain events which caused 
 Paul Payson and Zabdiel Stubbs to venture on a whaling 
 voyage; and when this is done, we shall rejoin the whaler in 
 other seas, and amid scenes of danger, such as are seldom en. 
 countered by those who go " down to the sea in ships." 
 
 CHAPTER II. 
 
 The Millionaire Sylvia, his Daughter Rivalry and Hatred 
 The Unmannerly Assault The Duck in the Pond. 
 
 IN one of those princely dwellings or rather palaces which 
 nearly surround Boston's magnificent mall and common, re 
 sides the family of one of the most wealthy and eminent "mer 
 chant princes," of which our favored metropolis, can boast. 
 
 The name of Saul Seabury is perhaps as \fell known and 
 honored as far as bills of exchange and other "promises to 
 pay" are concerned in the great maritime marts of the 
 Pacific and Indian Oceans, and in the Mediterranean and 
 Baltic Seas, as in those of the eastern and western coasts of 
 the Atlantic. His ships have traversed every navigable ocean, 
 sea, river, and estuary known to our adventurous mariners 
 There is scarcely a nation, civilized or barbaric, with which 
 we have commercial relations, but has contributed something 
 to swell the coffers of the enterprising Saul Seabury. 
 
 From comparative poverty, this son of Croesus climbed 
 te.;.2jy the ladder to affluence, and at the late period of which 
 we write, he was ranked, indisputably, as a millionaire; and if 
 any one doubts our assertion, let him refer to tlie annual of 
 'Our First Men," where he will assuredly discover Saul, if 
 not "among the prophets,' certainly among the nabobs.
 
 THE ROMANTIC ADVENTURES OP A SAILOR BOY. 11 
 
 The millionaire, Seabury, had a beautiful daughter. It is 
 not often that millionaires are blessed with beautiful or angelic 
 daughters : the daughters of very wealthy men are apt to be of 
 the sickly genteel sort : they have languishing airs and re 
 markably slender waists; pale cheeks, white lips, weak ankles, 
 tender feet, and turn-up noses (the latter, frequently, not 
 turned up by nature, but that shape being acquired by a con 
 stant habit of their proud owners turning them up at everything 
 and every body that is not attached to the particularly exalted 
 sphere in which they suppose themselves to revolve or are re 
 volved). But our millionaire's daughter, under propitious cir 
 cumstances, grew up to be a decided exception to the general 
 rule. She was lovely in character, and beautiful in form and 
 feature. In truth, Sylvia Seabury, to speak in common par 
 lance, was " the prettiest girl in town," seven years ago. 
 What she is now our readers will be informed anon. We are 
 here speaking of her as a sweet maiden of sixteen summers, 
 and she well deserved the common phrase which every body, 
 who had a glimpse at her loveliness, applied to her without anj 
 qualification, or with a view to flatter or exaggerate hea 
 charms. 
 
 The truth is, Sylvia was not reared in the hot-bed of metro 
 politan aristocracy. Scarcely had she reached the age of fw 
 years, when an afflicting circumstance the loss of her mothei 
 placed her in the care of a widowed aunt a lady of fine 
 mental culture for education ; and with her she remained, 
 except at occasional brief intervals, for upwards of ten years. 
 Their residence was in one of those quiet villages in one of 
 the valleys in the western part of the good old commonwealth, 
 which had not been disturbed by the quick rumbling of car 
 wheels, or the piercing shriek of iron-harnessed coursers. 
 
 Here, amid all the beauties and comforts of rural life, were 
 imparted to her those qualities which strengthen the mind, and 
 refine, adorn and elevate the gentler sex. The companions of 
 Sylvia's girlhood-days were the rustic, but well educated maid 
 ens of the village ; and she loved and was beloved by all ; and 
 when it was known that she was, at length, to take a final leave 
 of them, arid of those pleasant scenes, the girls thronged to bid 
 her an affectionate, though they hoped not a last, farewell ; and 
 many an eye was dimmed with tears at the parting. 
 
 Thus was this fair, this beauteous flower transplanted from 
 the genial soil in which it had been nurtured and flourished, 
 surrounded by the simplicity of the country, to the hot-bed of 
 the metropolis, amid artificial magnificence and luxuriousness. 
 
 It was with truly manifest regret that Sylvia was to leave all 
 the beauteous things that Nature, sublime teacher, had taught
 
 12 YANKEES IN JAPAN J OR, 
 
 her to love, notwithstanding her abode was henceforth to be 
 with her surviving parent, a brother, two twin-sisters, five years 
 younger than herself. This regret, it must be confessed, would 
 have been very much lessened, had it not been for a fervent 
 attachment she had formed for a young swain of the neighbor 
 hood, by the name of Paul Payson, whom we have already in 
 troduced to the reader, ,and who was regarded by those who 
 best knew him, as a noble fellow one of those choice and gal 
 lant spirits with a soul above malice, envy or revenge. Sylvia 
 could scarcely reconcile her feelings to the idea of a separation 
 from Paul ; for he had been her companion from childhood, and 
 he held, in spite of the envy and jealousy of others of his sex, 
 a sort of prescriptive right to be her gallant in all the rural 
 excursions and sports of summer, and in all the sleighing aud 
 dancing parties and other merry-makings of winter. 
 
 Paul was the son of a poor but highly esteemed farmer a 
 man " who had seen better days," but who, through the instiga 
 tion of one Ralph Randall, a sneaking, speculating, intriguing, 
 meddling, pettifogging attorney, was prevailed upon as many 
 honest men have been persuaded to do before him to mort 
 gage his domain for the purpose of raising funds to invest 
 in a certain Lake Superior mining company, with a jaw crack 
 ing aboriginal title, of which the aforesaid legal gentleman was 
 President ; and, indeed, if fanner Payson had examined into the 
 fact, he would have been astonished to learn that Randall wag 
 not only President, but Treasurer and Director, and the whole 
 mine himself; for the speculating, swindling enterprise was the 
 project of his own brain. All the money raised on the stock 
 went into his own capacious pockets, and not one cent did he 
 pay for digging the native copper from his imaginary mine. 
 
 Paul's lather chanced to become one of the attorney's great 
 est dupes ; and, at this time, instead of being lord of the soil 
 which he tilled for the sustenance of his family, he held it only 
 on sufferance of the mercenary, villanous pettifogger. 
 
 This unscrupulous legal individual had a son a ' chip of the 
 old block" about the same age of Paul Payson, who had like 
 wise conceived an ardent passion for the beautiful Sylvia ; but 
 he inherited too many of his father's unamiable traits of char 
 acter, to be held even with ordinary respect by the fair maiden, 
 who loved only Paul, and whose hand he fondly hoped to win. 
 Besides, he had but few opportunities of importuning her, ex 
 cept during college vacations he being an undergraduate ot 
 Old Harvard while Paul, on almost every pleasant day, ram 
 bled with her through the groves and green fields ; or sailed 
 with her on the little placid lake, which lay like a mirror of bur 
 nished steel within ten minutes' walk of the old homestead of 
 farmer Payson.
 
 THE ROMANTIC ADVENTURES OF A SAILOR BOY. 13 
 
 Reuben Randall had keenness enough to perceive readily 
 who was the favored one in sweet Sylvia's eyes, yet he did not 
 despair of supplanting him ; for when once she was removed 
 from the village to the metropolis, he flattered himself that he 
 could gain an easy access to the society in which she would 
 move, while Paul, " the rustic booby," as Reuben designated 
 him, could not have that privilege. 
 
 On the evening prior to Sylvia's taking leave of her friends, 
 there was quite a large gathering of the damsels and swains of 
 the village, at the cottage which had so long been the home of 
 the maiden. On this occasion Paul and Reuben were both 
 present. It oeing a bright moonlight night, and the atmosphere 
 bland, a ramble and a dance in the delightful grove adjoining 
 was proposed. The company one of each sex of course 
 paired off; and, gaily singing, laughing and chatting, they mer 
 rily tripped away to the scene of their happiest sports. 
 
 As may be presumed, our young hero was by Sylvia's side, 
 although his would-be rival made many attempts to leave his 
 less admired companion, for the peerless one whose fascinations 
 w-,re irresistible to all hearts of less than adamantine hardness. 
 AH hour was agreeably passed in rural pleasures, when it was 
 dis^ovei->d that Paul and Sylvia were missing. This fact being 
 ma<ie certain, there was a grand interchange of significant con 
 jectures ouching the loves of this youthful couple, particularly 
 from the 'ips of the maidens. There had been before many 
 intimatioi s and suppositions relative to their strong affection 
 for each o her, though nothing definite was certain ; but now all 
 was confuted, otherwise they would not have secretly hied off 
 together. 
 
 A mischief-loving fair one at length ventured to propose that 
 they should all start off in search of the stray couple; but the 
 proposition met with such general disfavor, that the sports were 
 lesumed, revolving that, in this case at least, they would act in 
 accordance with the scriptural injunction of doing as they 
 would be done by and allow the lovers the delight of their own 
 society Without molestation. 
 
 ]\ot by th ; s or any other?golden rule was young Rueben Ran 
 dall to be governed, for ere it was known to the company that 
 our hero a r <d heroine had absented themselves, he was dogging 
 their footsteps, and by taking advantage of the shadows of the 
 full-leaved oaks and maples, he managed to keep himself unper- 
 ceived wi'hin hearing distance of their conversation. The 
 expressions that fell upon the ears of the impertinent listener 
 were in substance as follows : 
 
 " Nay, Paul, you are jesting," said Sylvia, in careless tones 
 
 This was in reply to a fervent declaration of his passion, and
 
 14 YANKEES IN JAPAN \ OR, 
 
 notwithstanding her intimation, Paul's face never had a more 
 earnest expression. 
 
 "Jesting, Sylvia, but ill suits my feelings at this time," re 
 plied her lover in accents almost of sadness. " You seem tc 
 forget that with the rising of to-morrow's sun, the sun of my 
 existence will leave me perhaps forever." 
 
 Sylvia was silent ; her hand was pressed within that of Paul's, 
 and her love-kindled eyes, brighter than the dew-drops glistening 
 in the moon's rays, were fondly ga/ing into his open, ingenuous 
 and intelligent countenance, as if she did not fully comprehend 
 the import of his words. 
 
 "Sylvia/' resumed the youth, " pardon me if on this occasion 
 I speak in terms of boldness in terms which must be under 
 stood for I fear that with this stolen interview, ends for years, 
 perhaps forever, an acquaintance, which for me has bad more 
 joy in it than all other joys besides. Shall 1 proceed ?" 
 
 " If you would speak of fears, Paul, I pray that you will be 
 silent, lor your manner and voice betray your sadness ; but if 
 you would talk of joys, even in anticipation, pray go on ; I will 
 be your attentive auditor ; but speak in low tones, lest your 
 words reach other ears, and I be jealous of whoever hears them." 
 
 " Sylvia," said the ardent youth ; " I think I need hardly re 
 peat that the love which glows in this poor heart of mine, burns 
 only for thee ; and when you have gone, J shall be bereft of one 
 *vho alone has power to render my existence desirable. These 
 pleasant scenes, which have ever been so delightful to me, will 
 have lost their charm, and seem like a barren waste, when your 
 roice is no longer heard among them. But here, Sylvia, I shall 
 not long remain. I will look to other lands. The boundless 
 oceans I will cross, until I have acquired that " 
 
 " Talk not thus," said the maiden, interrupting him. " Let 
 me assure you, that although 1 am soon no longer to consider 
 this pleasant valley my home, it is far from my desire ; but 
 it is my father's will and command, and him I cannot, dare not 
 disobey." 
 
 " Think not, Sylvia, I would be so rude as to interpose a 
 single obstacle to your father's will in this respect had I the 
 power to do so. But but " 
 
 The youth hesitated. 
 
 "Speak your thoughts, freely, Paul," said the blushing maiden. 
 
 ' Forgive me if I do," he replied. " I cannot repress my 
 fears that, when you mingle in the gay society of the city you 
 will be importuned by the only person I entertain a hatred for !" 
 
 " Ah ! Paul ! noxy do I see that you are resolved to make 
 yourself jealous." 
 
 "Nay, Sylvia not without a cause, be assured. He, who
 
 THE ROMANTIC ADVENT t r B E3 OF A 3AILOE BOY. 1ft 
 
 more than once has crossed my path, will then have oppor- 
 tunities to meet you, a privilege which I must necessarily be 
 deprived of." 
 
 "You mean that foppish student, Reuben Randall?" 
 
 " Who else could I mean ? Has he not more than one* 
 avowed a determination to supplant me in your favor? Has 
 he not ridiculed and slandered me, and taunted me openly be 
 cause I am a poor farmer's son ?" 
 
 "All his avowals and misrepresentations, Paul, will aval 
 him nothing, except gain my hatred and contempt," she an 
 svvered with animation. " Therefore, let him not disturb your 
 thoughts. I'can never look with favor upon one who, I be 
 lieve, is so utterly devoid. of principle as he is" 
 
 "Of that I feel assured. It is not for thy faith I fear, 
 Sylvia ; but this Randall is a snake in the grass, like his 
 miserly, pettifogging father ; and he will not pounce upon his 
 intended victim until he has drawn a web around it that ren 
 ders escape almost impossible. I have much reason to fear 
 him." 
 
 " Your apprehensions, if they relate to me, Paul, are not 
 justified." 
 
 " I trust they are not ; but is well to be forewarned ; I know 
 that there is more danger lurking in Randall's brain than you 
 can be aware of." 
 
 " Ah ! what can you mean ?" 
 
 " To speak plainly, Sylvia, I heard him declare, in another'? 
 ear, that Sylvia Seabury, whether she hated or loved him, was 
 destined to become his wife !" 
 
 " Ah ! indeed ! that's decidedly cool in Mr. Randall ; and 
 how does he intend to accomplish his purpose of possessing a 
 hand that, as yet, I believe, is my property ?" said Sylvia, with 
 a tart expression. 
 
 " He said that he had not only gained an acquaintance with 
 your father, but had also gained his consent that you should 
 wed him, as soon as he had graduated at the university." 
 
 "Never never! shall Reuben Randall be my husband!" 
 she exclaimed with emphasis. 
 
 " I knew, dear Sylvia, that that would be your response to 
 Randall's presumptuous declaration. A man who is so tho 
 roughly despised, even by his own relatives, and with abundant 
 cause, must ever fail to meet with thy kind regard." 
 
 A slight rustling of the leaves near by, caused the lovers to 
 start from the moss-covered rock on which they had been 
 eated. 
 
 "We're watched, I fea. !" exclaimed Paul, in a whisper;
 
 16 YANKEES IN JAPAN J OE, 
 
 and he endeavored to penetrate with his eyes the deep shade 
 where his enemy was lurking. 
 
 " Your fear does not deceive you !" boldly exclaimed Reuben 
 Randal!, suddenly stepping from behind a huge oak tree, not 
 five paces distant. " Ah ! it grieves me to spoil such a delight 
 ful tete-a-tete it does indeed, by all that's agreeable," he con 
 tinued, striving to be gay and facetious, despite the hate and 
 anger which rankled in his bosom ; '* delightful, 'pon my word 
 rural felicity sweet, enchanting scene moonlight anothei 
 Lorenzo and Jessica, by all that's Shakspearian and excru 
 ciating." 
 
 " Insolence !" exclaimed Paul, hesitating whether to reply or 
 knock the intrusive, taunting puppy down. 
 
 Sylvia clung to her lover's arm, trembling with apprehension 
 at what she saw must follow. 
 
 "Insolence!" repeated Randall, mockingly. " Pretty good, 
 by all that's commendable, to stand and hear one's self derided 
 in a pretty girl's ear, by a rustic clown. 'Pon honor, I call 
 that de-ci-ded-ly rich don't you, my charming Miss Seabury ?" 
 
 " You forget, sir, the trite saying that listeners never hear 
 any good of themselves," said Sylvia, spiritedly ; " and I am 
 not a little surprised .to find one who assumes at least to be a 
 gentleman, and one who has been bred in good society, playing 
 the degraded part which, by your own confession, you have 
 been enacting." 
 
 " Now, by all that's truthful, Miss Seabury, it was by acci 
 dent that I overheard the slanderous remark of that country 
 butnkin', asseverated Randall. 
 
 " If I did not know your utter disregard for veracity, I might 
 believe you," returned the maiden, gaining courage at each 
 moment in presence of the self-conceited coxcomb. 
 
 " By all that's sarcastic, you are very severe, my pretty 
 rose-bud," replied Randall. " Had your booby lover ventured 
 that remark, I should have been tempted to soil my hands by 
 pitching him into the pond I should, by all that's disagreeable." 
 
 " Then let me remark, impertinent puppy, that you are not 
 only a foul-mouthed liar, but an unmitigated villain !" returned 
 Paul, with startling emphasis. 
 
 "Nay, Paul, do not provoke a quarrel with him," en 
 treated Sylvia ; " he is unworthy your resentment." 
 
 "i cannot, by all that's uncleanly, soil my hands in the 
 presence of Miss Seabury," said Randall, " who, it grieves 
 me to say, is disgracing herself and family, by permitting a 
 iiow bred fellow to associate with her." 
 
 " Because you are a cowardly puppy that is the true 
 reason," answered Paul.
 
 THE ROMANTIC ADVENTURES OF A SAILOR BOY. 19 
 
 " You shall suffer for this insolence, Mister Paul Payson," 
 said Randall. "I shall seek revenge without degrading myself 
 by committing an assault and battery on your detestable 
 person. Go home, and tell your bankrupt father that he had 
 better pack up his beggarly traps and leave the farm on which 
 he gets his bread, on my father's sufferance." 
 
 " Your father is an intriguing pettifogging knave, as all the 
 people of the village and the neighboring country know to 
 their sorrow," returned our hero, undaunted by threats very 
 like those he had heard from Lawyer Randall before. "Go 
 home, yourself, and tell your father that he cheated mine out 
 of his lands, by infamous trickery, as he has done the pro 
 perty of many an honest man, since he took up his resi 
 dence in a village, where every body loathes and despises him 
 as they would a venomous reptile. I heed not your threats 
 no more than I do the bark of any other curlish puppy. A day 
 of retribution, as sure as there is justice in Heaven, vvl. come, 
 sooner or later, and my wronged father shall have his rights 
 again. Therefore, begone ! out of my sight, villain ! or I may 
 be tempted to give -the first blow." 
 
 "I'll not give you an opportunity, beggarly wretch!" ex- 
 claimed Randall, darting forward, and levelling a blow at 
 Paul's head, with an oaken staff, which he carried in his hand , 
 but its fall did no more injury than to knock off his cap. 
 
 Like a young lion upon his prey, Paul seized his antagonist, 
 and bore him heavily to the earth, and placed one knee upon 
 the dastard's chest, while with his right hand he clutched the 
 cravat about his neck. 
 
 "Murder! murder! help! help! murder !" cried Randall. 
 
 " How shall I punish the impertinent scoundrel, Sylvia ?" 
 asked Paul, looking up as he held his hateful enemy firmly to 
 the ground. 
 
 " Don't punish him very severely," she replied. 
 
 " No, I'll not punish him as he merits," said our hero ; " I'll 
 just give him a, cold bath in the pond he threatened as much 
 to me the water is shallow, and there is no danger of his being 
 drowned. He surely deserves no less a punishment ; he shall 
 have it, if I've strength enough." 
 
 Thus saying, Paul raised his discomfited antagonist, and 
 seizing him tightly by the waist, he bore him struggling to the 
 margin of the placid sheet of water and plunged him in! 
 
 Randall's cries had been heard by some of the villagers, 
 who reached the spot, just as the punished student had made 
 his way out of the pond, and began shaking the water, like a 
 wet spaniel, from his clothes.
 
 20 YANKEES IN JAPAN J OH, 
 
 "What's the row?" inquired a sturdy farmer, who first 
 reached the spot ; " I heard the cry of murder !" 
 
 " It came from the lying throat of that cowardly coxcomb, 
 whom 1 just soused in the pond for his insolence," answered 
 our hero. 
 
 "Farmer Williams," said the enraged Randall; "I com 
 mand you, in the name of the law to arrest Paul Parson, for an 
 attempt to murder me !" 
 
 " Paul is free from all blame, Mr. Williams," said the sweet 
 voice of Sylvia Seabury. " I witnessed all that has transpired 
 between them. Randall gave the provocation, and made the 
 attack upon Paul, and the latter threw him into the pond to 
 cool his violent passion." 
 
 " My life on the truth of this maiden," said the farmer ; " I 
 understand it all that upstart deserved all he has got for his 
 meddling in matters that don't concern him, and much more I 
 have no doubt. Take my advice, Reuben Randall go home 
 mind your own business and never be caught in such a 
 mean scrape again." 
 
 "You -shall all suffer for this," said the- enraged and chop- 
 fallen youth, as he sneaked off through the grove in an opposite 
 .direction from the village, muttering all sorts of vengeance, 
 while our lovers were accompanied homeward, by a half score 
 or more of their friends, who had arrived in time to hear 
 Sylvia's explanation of the affair, which they would have be- 
 li^ved no sooner had an angel from heaven uttered the same 
 words.
 
 THE ROMANTIC ADVENTURES OF A SAILOR BOY. 
 
 CHAPTER III. 
 
 The farewell The arrest Paul and the country justice 
 The constable's journey A strange adventure, 
 
 Bright and lovely was the morning which succeeded the 
 evening of the discomfiture of Reuben Randall, by his more ath 
 letic and active rival, Paul Payson. The king of day arose in 
 all his refulgent splendor and majesty ; the verdant fields, val 
 leys, hills and forests, smiled in their liveliest robes : and the 
 birds made merry the groves, which on the evening previous, 
 gaily resounded with the happy voices of the rustic youths and 
 maidens of the neighborhood. 
 
 At this most joyous and lovely hour of the day, the horn of 
 the mail coach a.woke the drowsy villagers, and echoed and re 
 echoed from forest, hill and glade. The heavily ladened vehi 
 cle rolled rapidly through the broad elm-embowered avenue 
 the four high-mettled steeds prancing along as if they felt a 
 pride in the morning task, which they had regularly to perform, 
 of dragging the guadily decorated coach a distance of ten miles 
 on its route towards the City of Notions. The driver cracked 
 his long-lashed whip, and with p, graceful curvature, which any 
 son of Jehu might have been proud of, brought round his coach, 
 and reined in his coursers, in front of the sylvan cottage, where 
 Sylvia Seabury had passed upwards of ten years of her girl 
 hood career. 
 
 The unhappy moment had arrived when Paul Payson and 
 his fond Sylvia were to bid each other farewell perchance a 
 final adieu ; and as he stood by her side, with her hand fondly 
 pressed within his own, tears gushed unbiddingly into their eyes, 
 and their hearts were too full to speak. He saw, with jealous 
 eyes, the driver make hasty preparation for her departure, and 
 he heard with unwelcome ears, the announcement of " all 
 ready !" Sylvia withdrew her hand from his fervent grasp, and 
 turned to receive the parting words and parting kiss of her kind 
 aunt, whom she had learned to love as a mother. Paul escorted 
 her to the coach, but ere she placed her foot upon the step, she
 
 23 YANKEES IN JAPAN; OR, 
 
 turned and looked him full in the face. Their eyes had a mean- 
 ing look, and an irresistible attraction suddenly brought their 
 lips in contact. . t was their first kiss their parting kiss! The 
 maiden turned, as if to conceal the crimson blushes that man 
 tled her cheeks, and permitted herself to be assisted into the 
 coach by her lover ! The driver slammed to the coach door 
 mounted his box cracked his whip and the horses plunged 
 forward as if impatient to proceed on their journey. 
 
 Paul stood like a statue, watching the vehicle which was 
 conveying from him the " bright, particular star" of his exis 
 tence ; and even after it had got beyond the reach of his vision 
 he still stared in the direction it had taken. He seemed en* 
 chained abstractedly to the spot, nor was he aroused until a 
 rude hand was laid upon his shoulder, and he heard a gruff 
 voice, exclaim 
 
 " You're my pris'ner ! I 'rest you, Paul Payson, in the nam 
 of the law, and by virtue of this ere warrant!" 
 
 Paul turned and found himself in the hands of the constable 
 of the village, and near by stood Reuben Randall, rubbing bis 
 hands in exultation at his apparent misfortune. 
 
 " For what ami arrested ?" demanded our hero. 
 
 "Murder !" replied the hang-dog looking constable. 
 
 "Murder! impossible! I have committed no murder!" 
 
 " Wai, it's next thing to it the warrant reads lor 'tempting 
 to murder Reub'n Handle last night the square's son. The 
 law I s'pose calls it manslotter ; pity it didn't call it murder in 
 the first degree ; then we should ha' got rid of as big a scape 
 goat as lives atween here and Satan's kingdom." 
 
 "I'm unjustly accused I see it all!" the youth exclaimed, 
 casting a contemptuous, withering look upon his presumed ac 
 cuser; " but I shall triumph yet, Reuben Randall. Flatter not 
 yourself that your foul-mouthed accusations will be believed, 
 it is you who most deserves to be in the custody of the law, 
 and your own conscience, if you can boast of such a possession, 
 tells you as much. Think not that anything you have the 
 power to do will cause me to despair even for a moment. 
 Think not that in the sweetest of all you triumphs, you can 
 cause my soul to quake, or even my lips to quiver with fear!" 
 
 "Away with the prating fool, Spike !" commanded Randall. 
 " Remember, I hold you responsible for his appearance before 
 the magistrate at nine o'clock, precisely, this day !" 
 
 With these words the vindictive Randall walked away, think 
 ing he had at length succeeded in getting his rival into a dilemma 
 out of which he determined that it should be with extrentu 
 difficulty, and the failure of all his wel'-laid plans, that his riva 
 could extricate himself.
 
 THE ROMANTIC ADVENTURES OF A SAILOR BOY. 23 
 
 " Before what magistrate ?" asked Paul, of Spike, the con 
 stable. 
 
 " Why, in course, you knows we has but one," answered the 
 important official, " and you knows very well who he is." 
 
 " You surely cannot mean that villain's father ?" ejaculated 
 Paul. 
 
 " In coure I mean Square Randle. Who else" is there, I'd 
 like to know, sence Square Meddler suddenly stepped out ? 
 There isn't nobody, and you knows that as well as I do, so 'taint 
 no use to make b'lieve ignerant." 
 
 " Then, I suppose, I may make up my mind as to the result 
 of my examination before the magistrate." 
 
 " Oh, in course, he'll commit you to the county jug, till the 
 grand Jewry " 
 
 "Whether he proves me guilty or not, I have 1:0 doubt," in 
 terrupted the prisoner, sarcastically. 
 
 " Wai, as to that, I kin say, in course, there '11 be no diffikilty 
 coz you see his son Rewben, the plaintiff in the case, will gin 
 in his testimony to all the grave facts." 
 
 ' ; Facts ! pshaw ! humbug ! he'll testify to a tissue of false 
 hoods, which he has undoubtedly ready manufactured for the 
 occasion." 
 
 " Be keerful, young man that's what the law calls slander 
 and Square Randle won't 'low anything to be slandered that 
 b'longs to him. You know when the Square gets riled there's 
 so sich thing as hawin' or geein' on him. Now, let me 'gin 
 you a little bit o' good advice : when I get you safely inside 
 the Square's office, don't you begin to be obstropolous, and talk 
 to him as you did jest now to his son, Reub : n ; coz, if you do, 
 it'll go all-fired with you. Keep a sober, sorry kind of a coun 
 tenance on, and mebbe he'll let you off cheap p'raps clap on 
 a fine of a few dollars and costs, or send you down to the county 
 jug for two, three or four months, or so." 
 
 These singular remarks of the voluble constable were un 
 heeded by the prisoner, whose mind, although his body was in 
 the possession of a constable, was absorbed upon thoughts of a 
 matter much nearer his heart, which brought forth a deep drawn 
 sigh, and tears again glistened in his large, expressive eyes. 
 
 " I'm kinder sorry to see you take on so, in course I is," re 
 sumed Spike; '' but if one chooses to get hisself into a fix, in 
 course it's no fault o' mine. My duty is straight for'ard all 
 the tears shed in town in a year wouldn't start me a hair's 
 breadth I'm firm as the rock o' ages, and wouldn't turn out o' 
 the path o' duty to save all the human beings in the village from 
 starvation and eternal and everlasting destitution no, in course 
 I wouldn't. Duty is duty, though it hangs my granma'am. So
 
 24 YANKEES IN JAPAN J OR, 
 
 come along, and be peaceable as a cow 'fore milkin. If I speckt 
 the least symtum o' youre try in' to gin me the slip, I'll jest slip 
 these ere ruffles OH to your two wrists, and they'll be as hard 
 and fast as the Siamese Twins, jest as I've had to sarve many 
 a hard boy afore you." 
 
 Now all this voluntary " good advice" on the part of the in 
 flexible constable, was entirely lost on his prisoner. Paul 
 walked on peaceably beside the officer, without uttering a word 
 himself, or hearing a single word that was addressed to him. 
 His eyes were bent on the ground, his body moved mechani 
 cally on, but his thoughts were glyding on with the coach that 
 was bearing away, as it were, his soul's treasure. His sorrow 
 was too deep to give one poor thought to the peculiarly unfor 
 tunate circumstances under which the villany of another had 
 placed him. 
 
 At. nine o'clock, there was an unusual excitement in and 
 about the little, low-roofed, ominous-looking building, occupied, 
 as the sign over the door purported, by " Ralph Randall, Attor 
 ney at Law, and Justice of the Peace and the Quorum, and 
 Notary Public." All the villagers, with the exception of the 
 femiriine portion and there were a few of these present had 
 assembled, eager with curiosity to know the particulars of cer 
 tain rumors, rife in the village, which were extremely prejudi 
 cial to the character of our young hero, Paul Payson. Some 
 said that he had actually committed homicide ; others, that he 
 had only made an attempt to commit the awful crime ; and 
 others, who knew the.parties well, declared with confidence that 
 it was only a quarrel, and that the attorney's son had not only 
 given the provocation, but had dealt the first blow. 
 
 Ralph Randall, the village magistrate, sat in his office, in a 
 high-backed arm-chair, before a table covered with blank war 
 rants, blank writs, a copy of the Revised Statutes, and the usual 
 variety of legal looking stationery. He was a diminutive, 
 cadaverous visaged man, with deep-sunken, greyish eyes, a thin, 
 peaked nose, a wrinkled brow, with his head partially covered 
 with coarse, iron gra^r hair. He wore a white cravat, blue 
 spencer over a snuff-colored dress coat, and mixed pantaloons, 
 which huug loosely about his sunken legs. When not writing 
 or poring over his books, his right hand was usually employed in 
 dangling a fob watch chain of formidable dimensions, to which 
 was suspended a number of antique seals, keys, &c. His voice, 
 a harsh and creaking tenor, was about as pleasant to the ear as 
 the swinging of a door, on rusty, ungreased hinges. 
 
 Randall sat in deep thought, awaiting the arrival of the 
 prisoner ; who, he had been informed, was already under arrest 
 A rush of idle spectators into the narrow office, announced that
 
 THE ROMANTIC ADVENTURES OF A SAILOR BOY. 25 
 
 the constable, escorting the hero of the occasion, was at hand. 
 Paul entered the apartment with, a firm and dignified tread, and 
 confronted the man whom he had the best of reasons for hating 
 with his whole soul. In a few moments afterwards, the accu 
 ser, the magistrate's son Reuben, entered. 
 
 "Constable Spike!" squeaked the attorney. 
 
 " Here, your honor," answered Spike, making an obsequious 
 bow. 
 
 "Which is the accused ?" 
 
 "Mister Paul Payson, your honor," replied Spike, laying his 
 huge paw upon his prisoner's shoulder. 
 
 The magistrate read the complaint, and then asked 
 
 " Which is the accuser ?" 
 
 "In course your honor knows your own son," replied the 
 constable. 
 
 "Hem ! my son yes exactly," observed Randall, slightly 
 disconcerted. " Reuben Randall, stand up hem ! hold up 
 your right hand. You solemnly swear hem ! that the evi, 
 dence which you shall give in the case now pending, shall be 
 the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth so help 
 you, hem ! " 
 
 Reuben's hand dropped the last word was not sufficiently 
 audible for the audience to hear, and it is a mooted point to this 
 day, whether the sharkish magistrate uttered the final word of 
 the oath, or whether it stuck in his throat. Most probably the 
 latter. 
 
 " Well, Reuben, what do you know of this matter ?" inquired 
 his father. " You are under a solemn oath remember that 
 hem !" 
 
 " Last evening," commenced the accusing witness, " as 1 was 
 quietly walking in yonder grove, near the pond,I overheard two 
 persons engaged in conversation, and, accidentally hearing my 
 name fall from the lips of one of them, my curiosity became 
 sufficiently excited to know the precise purport of their remarks. 
 For this purpose I tarried behind a large oak tree, and listened, 
 when I heard the prisoner here uttering the most slanderous 
 expressions against you and myself " 
 
 " Slander ! ah ha !" interrupted the magistrate ; *' hem ! slan 
 der's an indictable offence never should go unpunished 
 never ! hem ! To whom were his slanderous expressions ut 
 tered ?" 
 
 " To Miss Seabury Sylvia Seabury !" replied the witness. 
 
 "Ah ' he wished to poison her ears with slanderous charges 
 against jou ! hern ! I understand go on !" 
 
 " I heard him say that you was a mean, pettifogging, hoary- 
 beaded ol <ri'lain !"
 
 26 YANKEES :N JAPAN; OR, 
 
 " Eh ?'' essayed old Ralph, grinning a revengeful and ghastly 
 smile at the unmoved prisoner. 
 
 " He declared, too, that you had swindled his father out of 
 his lands ; in fact that you had cheated every farmer in the 
 neighborhood !" 
 
 " He did, did he ? Oh, he shall pay dearly for this !" mut 
 tered the magistrate, grinding his teeth with anger. " Proceed." 
 
 " He furthermore said," continued the fast witness, " that 
 when you settled in the village, you was not worth a copper, 
 and that there was not a poor man in the whole neighborhood ; 
 but now you had got rich by reducing to poverty every in 
 habitant." 
 
 " Trew, by hookey, as the book o' Corinthians !" sang out 
 some one in the rear of the crowd of spectators. 
 
 " Silence !" squeaked out the magistrate, angrily ; " who said 
 'true?' S.pike ! search out the wretch who dares to inteH- 
 rupt the court." 
 
 " Yes, yer honor," responded Spike. 
 
 " So, Mr. Witness, the prisoner uttered that slander, did he ?' 
 
 " On my oath, he did." 
 
 " Oh, but he shall pay for this !" muttered the attorney, in 
 low but emphatic tones. " His father, too, shall suffer dearly 
 for teaching his son to assail the characters of his betters, I'i] 
 distress him, if there is any virtue in the law. Go on, Reuben, 
 go on." 
 
 " Mr. Magistrate," asked one of the spectators ; " I thought 
 the prisoner was brought here to be examined on a charge of 
 attempting to murder your son." 
 
 "Hem that is the charge, Farmer Williams!" answered 
 Randall. 
 
 " 1 merely thought you were attempting to make out a case 
 of slander against him," observed the farmer, drily. 
 
 " What right, sir, have you to interrupt the court ?" de 
 manded the magistrate, angrily. 
 
 " I came here to see fair play," returned the farmer ; " and 
 as I know something about the affair, I claim the right of being 
 heard !" 
 
 " Spike ! Spike !" cried Ralph. " Silence in the court ! See 
 that we are not again interrupted. Go on, my son." 
 
 The witness proceeded as follows : 
 
 " After hearing these and many like expressions, and until I 
 could no longer bear to hear you thus grossly calumniated, I 
 appeared suddenly before the slanderer, and demanded instant 
 satisfaction for the foul language he had uttered both against 
 you and me. My demand was treated with utter contempt. 
 I then threatened him with prosecution if he did not retract
 
 THE ROMANTIC ADVENTURES OF A SAILOR BOY. 27 
 
 the foul statements he had made, to Miss Seabury, whereupon 
 he snatched from me a heavy cane which I had in my hano, 
 and with it struck me on the head a heavy blow, the weight of 
 which felled me to the earth, and almost stunned me. Before 
 I could recover myself, he took me by the arms, dragged me to 
 the edge of the rock, and brutally threw me into the pond, 
 where, if the water had been sufficiently deep, I should have 
 drowned !" 
 
 "Horrible! horrible!" muttered the attorney, inaudibly. 
 
 "1 was so weak," resumed Reuben, "that I could scarcely 
 stand, but by dint of great effort, I was enabled to crawl out. 
 and reach the shore !" 
 
 "A most miraculous escape!" said the attorney, on the 
 breath of a deep drawn sigh. 
 
 " All of which I believe and know to be a gross fabrication, 
 with the exception of the ducking, which punishment your SOL 
 most richly deserved !" declared Farmer Williams, in loud and 
 bold tones. 
 
 " Silence the court !'' squeaked out the little magistrate 
 "I'll have you commuted for contempt of court, if you conti 
 nue to disturb its proceedings." 
 
 " Silence the court !" echoed Spike, with a stentorian effort. 
 " The examination can't go on without order in court in course 
 it can't." 
 
 " I claim a right to be heard in behalf of the prisoner," per 
 sisted Farmer Williams. 
 
 " Well, what do you know about it ?" 
 
 " I know your son to be a libertine, a liar, and the greatest 
 scape-grace that ever appeared in our village, and, therefore, 
 not to be believed under oath !" exclaimed the sturdy farmer 
 indignantly. 
 
 " Slander ! vile slander ! actionable slander ! by all that's 
 legal! Dearly you shall suffer for this!" muttered the magis 
 trate. 
 
 "Dang it all, 'Squire," said an athletic rustic, the same per 
 son who had once before interrupted the court, '* do you call 
 telling the trewth, slander ? I know what Farmer Williams 
 says is gospil trewth and, dod rot it, Square, he hain't let on 
 more'n half he knows he hain't, by jerewsalem !" 
 
 " Spike, I command you to arrest that man for contempt of 
 court !" cried the attorney. 
 
 " Spike, if you can guess any where nigh which side your 
 bread is buttered on you'll dew no sich thing," said the rustic, 
 with a threatening look. 
 
 "I'll have you indicted for mal-practice," added Williams, 
 eonfronting the magistrate, with a serious and determined as-
 
 28 YANKEES IN JAPAN ; OR, 
 
 pect, "I know something of your tricks and your quirks. 
 Once more I declare, in the presence of all here assembled, that 
 the prisoner, Paul Payson, is innocent of even having com 
 mitted a breach of the peace, excepting in his own proper and 
 lawful defence." 
 
 Even the magistrate was awed by the resolute and deter 
 mined manner of Farmer Williams, who, he well knew, was a 
 man much respected by the whole village, and whose influence 
 was such as to cause him to feel that it would be unsafe to 
 hazard, on that occasion, an open collision with. 
 
 " Young man," said the attorney, unheeding the bold farmer, 
 and addressing the prisoner ; " what have you to say in de 
 fence of the charges alleged against you?" 
 
 "Nothing to you!" replied Paul; "I would'nt trust the 
 fate of a dog in your hands !" 
 
 " Then your case must go to the Grand Jury," said the ma 
 gistrate. " You are required to give bonds in the sum of five 
 thousand dollars, for your appearance at the Common Pleas 
 
 Court, to be holden at . on the second Tuesday of August 
 
 next. In default of which you must be taken to the county 
 jail, there to await your trial hem !" 
 
 ' Monstrous !" exclaimed Farmer Williams. 
 
 'Silence the court!" again squeaked the attorney. 
 
 ' Silence the court !" bellowed Spike. 
 
 ' Make out his bail-bond," said Williams, stepping forward, 
 " 1 11 be his surety. The young man shall not step foot inside 
 of a jail if I have the power to prevent it." 
 
 " I cannot permit this, my kind friend," said the prisoner. 
 ' Let the unmitigated villain do his worst. I'll go to jail ; and 
 let me thank you for the kindness you have evinced towards 
 me." 
 
 "But I insist on signing the bond!" said the farmer. 
 
 " And I insist that you shall not !" replied Paul, snatching 
 the blank form which the magistrate was filling up, and tearing 
 it in pieces, he strewed the fragments upon the floor. " There, 
 1 am resolved to abide the worst ; but a day will come when I 
 shall triumph over this contemptible, pettifogging villain, 
 and ' 
 
 " The court's adjourned! clear the office!" interrupted the 
 attorney. " Spike ! this way see to your prisoner." 
 
 "I've two on 'm your honor," said the constable. "Here's 
 Zabdiel Stubbs 'rested for contempt o' court, you know." 
 
 " Right, Spike, right! hem ! We must teach these unman 
 nerly burnkins what is due to the majesty of the law. We 
 must make an example of this Stubbs." 
 
 "I tell you what 'tis, Square Handle," observed Zabdiel ;
 
 THE ROMANTIC ADVENTURES OF A SAILOR BOY. 29 
 
 " if you intend 'this as a joke, you've carried it e'en jest abou. 
 far enough ; but if you're in earnest, why, dod rot it, jug me, 
 and see who'll come out best, in the eend," 
 
 " Silence !" commanded the magistrate. " You're ordered to 
 jail for thirty days !" 
 
 " Wai, I calkilate that's rayther tough, Square," said Zabdiel, 
 " but I don't keer a fope, seein' as how you've bound Paul 
 over ; on the hull I'm rayther glad on't, for he'd be all-fired 
 lonesome without me." 
 
 " Spike, remove the prisoners !" ordered the attorney, en 
 raged at the remarks of the rustic, as well as of others who 
 were lingering about the office, and who commented with the 
 utmost freedom upon the character of the pest of the village. 
 
 Thus ended this judicial farce. 
 
 An hour before sunset on that day, a covered, vehicle might 
 have been seen rolling at a moderate speed along the road 
 leading through a forest of oaks and maples, at a distance of 
 about ten miles from the scene of the occurrences just described. 
 Four persons occupied the vehicle, and it being a lumbering 
 affair, and but one raw-boned horse to draw it, will account for 
 the slowness of its progress. The occupants of the back seats 
 were none other than Paul Payson and Zabdiel Stubbs, pri 
 soners of Constable Spike, who, with the driver, occupied the 
 front seats. 
 
 "Come, driver, whip up the old beast," urged Spike, getting 
 impatient; " at this rate we shall get into the middle o' next 
 week, 'fore we land the pris'ners." 
 
 "Spike, I tell you what 'tis" said Jehu; "I've no heart in 
 this business." 
 
 "Well, what's that to you or to me," returned Spike. 
 " Duty is duty, and we must follow its track if it leads into a 
 quagmire, in course we must. I 'spose you're one o' them 
 chaps what thinks Squire Handle a hard-hearted man. That's 
 all very natural to him what knows nothing about the respon 
 sibilities of the law, in course 'tis; but I've had some experience 
 ten years a constable ought to make a man know something 
 about the twists and turns of the perfession, in course it ought 
 and I tell you that the Squire is an abused man ; the fault 's 
 in the law if it's any where. Folks don't see as how a justice's 
 duty is marked out as straight as a liberty pole, and he darsent 
 go crooked, coz if he did, he'd be 'peached at once, and then 
 he's -nigh about ruined ; don't you see? in course you duz." 
 
 " No, Spike, * don't see," answered Jehu ; " I believe old grey, 
 scalp is just what everybody says he is ; a sneaking, swindling, 
 old rascal "
 
 30 YANKEES IN JAFAN \ OR, 
 
 Stop stop," cautioned Spike ; " that's slanderous language, 
 and I 'vise you as a friend not to say that to anybody else, coz 
 if you do the Squire'll get hold on't, and he'll put you through 
 a course o' law in course he will." 
 
 " Gammon, Spike," said Jehu ; " you'll be the first one to tell 
 the old greyscalp my candid opinion of him ; but who cares 
 he'd make more money scraping pistareens than he could ever 
 squeeze out o' this child." 
 
 " Ha ! what's that ?" ejaculated Spike, as he saw a strange 
 i/bject dart from the wood into the road, and suddenly dart back 
 again. 
 
 " Why, Spike," shid Jehu, unconcernedly, " I thought every 
 body knew that this wood is haunted." 
 
 " Ha-ha-haunted !" stammered Spike, with considerable agi 
 tation, " haunted with what ?" 
 
 "With burglars, robbers and cut-throats!" replied Jehu. 
 
 " You can't be in arnest in course you cant. Oh, dear! 
 there 'tis agin." 
 
 " Why, what are you frightened at, Spike ?' asked Jehu. "A 
 constable should never be frightened at thieves or cut-throats. 
 Of course you carry pistols?" 
 
 " In course I do ; but they hain't loaded. What's to be done 
 then, if we should be attacked ?" 
 
 " Fight ! fight as long as there's a drop of blood left in our 
 veins !" answered Jehu, heroically. 
 
 The sun had now set, and the shadows of that lonely wood 
 were fast deepening. Spike grew uneasy, for he imagined a 
 variety of evils that might beset his path. He was a coward, 
 as most constables are, and this weakness in him was well known 
 to Jehu. Then there was something very mysterious in Jehu's 
 conduct. He was known to be famous for " putting the ani 
 mals through ;" but on this occasion, for some reason quite un 
 accountable to Spike, they didn't progress on their journey 
 scarcely three knots an hour. True, Jehu had given a multi 
 plicity of reasons, such as-i-the load was too heavy for one 
 horse to draw ; the vehicle was a lumbering old thing, and had'nt 
 been greased since last thanksgiving ; the ruts were uncom 
 monly deep, the animal had cast a shoe, hadn't had his oats, 
 went on a long journey the day previous, &c., &c. ; all of 
 which, "in course," was very annoying to the timid constable 
 under the circumstances. 
 
 ''Can't you drive a leetle faster?" asked Spike, in tones of 
 entreaty. 
 
 "Not a hitch ; don't you see the old nag is nearly tuckered 
 out ; besides, there's no sense in hurrying when we've got all
 
 THE ROMANTIC ADVENTURES OF A SAILOR BOY. 31 
 
 night afore us. You seem a little scared, Spike ; I thought you 
 was a man of pluck." 
 
 " In course 1 is, and I ain't scared, nuther ; but I want to get 
 to the jail Tore mid " 
 
 Spike's sentence was cut short by a loud whoop, which fairly 
 made the welkin ring, and, suddenly, a score or more of men, 
 with painted faces, and dressed in all sorts of fantastic apparel, 
 rushed into the road, and intercepted the progress of the 
 vehicle. 
 
 Frightened beyond description, the village constable leaped 
 into the road, and fell upon his knees before a stalwart fellow, 
 who appeared to be the ringleader of this strange body of men. 
 
 "Mercy! oh, mercy !" prayed Spike; "take all I have 
 here's my pocket-book, watch, chain and all but, oh, spare my 
 life !" 
 
 While Spike was pleading lustily for his life, some of the 
 gang had released the two prisoners, and hurried them into the 
 woods, while Jehu had managed to turn his vehicle about, and 
 giving his " sleepy David," a crack or two about the ears, and 
 the animal galloped off with the speed of a race-horse ! Yells 
 of " stop him ! stop him !" from the outlaws were heard, but 
 none volunteered to go in pursuit ; thus Jehu got off safely with 
 his horse and vehicle, (as he undoubtedly anticipated,) leaving 
 poor Spike in the hands of the bloody thieves and cut-throats, 
 as he really supposed them to be. 
 
 In spite of the offer to deliver up his money and other valua 
 bles, and his earnest entreaties to be freed from their hands, they 
 seized him, and dragged him to an oak tree beside the road. A 
 strong cord was produced by one of the gang, which, Spike 
 discovering and surmising the worst, caused him again to break 
 forth in the most piteous exclamations of entreaty. He verily 
 thought he was to be strung up by the neck, like a dog, to die ! 
 and for many minutes did his unknown tormentors take no pains 
 to relieve his mind of the horrible idea he so strongly enter 
 tained ! Death, in the most ignominious form, stared him in 
 ihe face, and his brain was racked with the keenest torture ! 
 
 After really enjoying the sufferings of the obnoxious consta 
 ble as long as was desirable, they relieved him of the awful 
 suspense by putting the slip noose around his waist, instead of 
 \bout his neck ; then drawing him closely to the trunk of the 
 U'ee, they bound him so closely to it that he could neither move 
 limbs or body. 
 
 In this sad plight poor Spike was left, as he supposed for the 
 night, for, as the road was little travelled, it would be by the 
 merest chance that any one would be passing that way before 
 another day. So, our constable determined to put the best face
 
 S2 YANKEES IN JAPAN J OR, 
 
 on the matter possible, and philosophically resigned himself tl 
 his fate. In truth, he felt himself comparatively happy, to think 
 he was not dangling in the air at the end of a rope. As yet, 
 he had suffered no bodily injury, and the only fears that he en 
 tertained were, that some wild beast might scent him out and 
 devour him, or that the gang of cut-throats, burglars, or what 
 ever they were, might return. 
 
 The midnight hour arrived. For five hours had Spike been 
 hard and fast to the tree, which hours seemed to him quite the 
 length of as many days. He now became drowsy and would 
 have slept, had he not been aroused by the rolling of carriage 
 wheels, and the tramp of horses' feet. 
 
 " Heaven be praised ! Relief is at hand !" exclaimed Spike, 
 and then he commenced yelling with the utmost power of his 
 lungs, all sorts of piteous cries, which, attracting the attention 
 of the occupants of the vehicle, it halted near the spot where 
 Spike was confined. 
 
 " Who's there ?" demanded one of the strangers. 
 
 " It is I, Phil Spike, constable of !" he replied, " I've beer. 
 
 robbed, nearly murdered, and tied to a tree ; and oh, if you've 
 any compassion on a poor, suff 'ring mortal, you will release me 
 in course you will." 
 
 "Sure enough it is constable Spike," said one of the stran 
 gers, as they both leaped from the carriage and approached him 
 "how came you in this predicament ?" 
 
 "Ha, ha, ha!" laughed the victim, with sudden joy; "why 
 neighbor Stiles,, that's you ; and Bill Sparrygrass, too ! why, 
 how all-natured glad I am to see you in course I is." 
 
 " But how came you here, Spike ?" again asked Stiles. 
 
 " I and Jehu Jenkins were attacked by a band o' robbers ; 
 Jehu managed to clear, and I was left to fight 'erA alone ; I 
 stood my ground a long time, but human pluck couldn't fight 
 long agin sich odds ; they at last overpowered me, tied me t 
 this tree and, and now you untie me, in course you will, and 
 you shall have all the perticklers." 
 
 With as much gravity as their knowledge of the whole affair 
 would permit, Spike's neighbors proceeded to undo that which 
 they in fact had assisted, but a few hours previous, in doing, 
 though without in the least being suspected by their victim. 
 
 Spike was invited to ride home in the vehicle, and a happier 
 or more apparently grateful creature was scarcely ever seen. 
 
 But what of the prisoners, Paul Payson and Zabdiel Stubbs ? 
 Our readers, we presume, require no detailed account of the 
 singular transaction, and it is hardly necessary for us to say 
 that Spike's band of robbers were .the prisoners' friends, who 
 had determined upon this course to rescue them from the hands
 
 .rax OBMIS or THE MUTINY.
 
 THE ROMANTIC ADVENTURES OF A SAILOR BOY. 33 
 
 of the law, which they did effectually, having taken them to a 
 carriage not far distant, and driving them twenty miles in an 
 easterly direction that night ; and it was the identical Vehicle 
 ?hich conveyed the prisoners away, that brought the constable 
 ;o his home. 
 
 The slight incidents which followed, up to the time of their 
 >mbarkation on board the King Philip are hardly worthy of 
 letail ; but subsequent events are of that character which will 
 }ause us to follow them over the ocean, and to that magnificent 
 md comparatively unknown country, which is commanding the 
 attention of Europe, and with which Brother Jonathan ia 
 tesolved to become better acqu ;<n *d.
 
 36 VANKEES IN JAPAN ; 
 
 CHAPTER IV. 
 
 The Whaler A Mutinous Plot Discovered The Tempest 
 " Breakers ahead" The Whirlpool. 
 
 FAR, far away, on the Pacific ocean, and in view of the great 
 Islands of Niphon, Kiooso, and Sitkokf, composing the chief 
 part of the territory of the Japanese Empire, a large but 
 weather-beaten ship lay becalmed. For the ten previous days 
 she had experienced severe gales, had been driven off her 
 course, and twice came near being wrecked among the Kurile 
 Islands ; but she had weathered the storms of that dangerous 
 coast ; and now, scarcely a -breath of air disturbed the glassy 
 surface of the mighty sea, the skies were bright and clear, and 
 <,he atmosphere bland, presenting a strong contrast to the raging 
 rf the elements on the preceding days. 
 
 That ship was the whaler, King Philip. Thirty months had 
 
 elapsed since she weighed anchor in the harbor of N , 
 
 and so strangely had she altered hi appearance, that one, to 
 whom she was known, would scarcely have recognized her. 
 Hull, spars, rigging and sails, had undergone a complete meta 
 morphose. But if the ship had changed, what shall we say of 
 her crew ? She had commenced her cruise with a crew of 
 American seamen, but now there were Malays, Coreans and 
 Kanackas aboard, some of the Americans having deserted while 
 in various ports, and others having lost their lives by sickness 
 and in casualties incident to the capturing of whales ; and, it 
 being impossible to supply their places with Americans or 
 Europeans, Captain Harold was necessitated to resort to the 
 shipping of native Islanders. But the change did not stop here 
 It would have been difficult, even for an old acquaintance, to 
 have recognized the officers, or the Americans of that ship's 
 company. Most of them wore beards hanging to their breasts, 
 and the hair of their heads flowed over their shoulders in great 
 profusion ; their apparel was made mostly of the skins of seals 
 and sea-lions, which, altogether, rendered them, in appearance. 
 as savagely grotesque as one could possibly imagine. For the
 
 THE ROMANTiO ADvENTURES OF A SAILOR BOY. 87 
 
 most part of the time she had cruised off Kamschatska, and 
 farther north, and this was the first day of mild weather expe- 
 -leneed by the crew for many months. She had obtained some 
 three thousand barrels of oil, which, with a large quantity of 
 bone and ivory, made a full and valuable cargo, and, to the joy 
 of most of the Yankees aboard, she was homeward bound, in 
 tending to stop at the Loo Choo Islands, for the purpose of 
 taking in a supply of provisions and water, and in paying off 
 and discharging the Islanders aboard. 
 
 Yet there were several among the King Philip's crew, who 
 were determined that she should never reach her destined port ; 
 indeed, there was a conspiracy hatching among them, which 
 had already become quite formidable, to murdter the captain 
 and the first officer, and all who would not join them ; then, to 
 seize Jtbe ship and. make for some port, where they might safely 
 dispose of the vessel and her cargo. 
 
 At the head of this wicked conspiracy, was the second mate, 
 Martin Cumstock, or Shaggy Mart, as the crew called him. 
 He shipped as an able seaman, but the second mate having 
 died on the outward passage, Cumstock was promoted. He 
 was a s'out, burly fellow, and was known to possess consider 
 able knowledge of navigation, besides possessing the qualities 
 of cunning, shrewdness, and courage. 
 
 At the time of the ship's being becalmed off the Japanese 
 coast, the mutineers were nearly prepared to put their diabo 
 lical plans into operation. The Malays, Coreans and Kanackas 
 were nearly all enlisted ; but there was one man, they yet de 
 sired to win over to their cause, for it was strongly suspected 
 by Shaggy Mart that, from some hint he had thrown out, he 
 had gained some knowledge of their fell intentions. This indi 
 vidual was none other than our Yankee friend, Zabdiel Stubbs, 
 who, although he had become a thorough seaman, an experi 
 enced whaleman, and could chew as much tobacco as any man 
 aboard ship, he had not quite adopted the slang phrases of a 
 sailor in lieu of the dialect peculiar to many Yankee back 
 woodsman. 
 
 It so happened that Stubbs belonged to the second mate's 
 watch, and on the morning of the day referred to, this officer 
 having dispersed his men to different parts of the ship, to per 
 form various duties, he took the opportunity to " sound" Zab 
 in regard to the bloody enterprise of which he was the acknow 
 ledged leader. 
 
 Zab was seated on an inverted slush bucket, near the fore 
 hatch, busily scraping a whale's tooth, which he was endeavoring 
 to fashion into the hull of a ship, at the same time whistling his 
 favorite air of " Hail Columbia." The second mate approached
 
 38 YANKEES IN JAPAN ; OR, 
 
 and in as pleasant a manner as his rough nature would permit, 
 thus accosted him : 
 
 " How many ivory baubles have you manufactured, Slubbs, 
 during the cruise ?" 
 
 " Wai, I guess, about half a trunk full r as nigh as I can cal- 
 kilate," answered Zab, without raising his eyes from the work 
 
 " And what do you intend to do with them, when the cruise 
 is up ?" 
 
 " Wai, I calkilate to sell most on 'em, and them what ain't, 
 harnsum enough to sell, I recken I'll give to aunt Jerewsha's 
 gals mighty slick gals them there's Peg, she's almighty harn 
 sum, and Suke so spry I've seen her leap a five-barred gate 
 without stubbin' her toes." 
 
 " How much do you expect your trinkets will sell for ?' 
 
 ' As nigh as I've figgered it, about a quarter as much Vis my 
 share o' the ile." 
 
 " And what do you estimate your share of the ' ile' at ?" 
 
 " Wai, nigh about a thousand dollars, if we have a pros 
 perous vige hum.," 
 
 " Wouldn't you like it better," pursued the mutineer, " if 
 you could carry home the handsome sum of ten thousand dol 
 lars instead of one thousand ?" 
 
 "Harpoons and marlinspikes!" exclaimed Z;ib, looking up 
 into Cumstock's face; "whoit a question for one Yankee to put 
 to another. Jest you pint out the way for Zabdiel Stubbs to 
 go hum wuth the snug fortin of ten thousand dollars, and cuss 
 his picter if he's ever caught out a blubber huntin' agin." 
 
 " If the value of this ship and cargo were divided among 
 eighteen or twenty good fellows, each man would not receive 
 much less than ten thousand dollars," said the second mate, 
 suggestively. 
 
 " Trevv," replied Zab ; "but the valy of the ship ain't to be 
 divided at all ; and as for the ile, the owners you know receive 
 the lion's share, then the cap'n he comes in for the next biggest 
 pile, then the mates, then the petty officers, then the men, they 
 come last, and get "the least that's the way on't." 
 
 " Precisely ; those who do nothing, get the most ; those who 
 get all the hard knocks, and peril life to make the rich richer, 
 get but the jackall's share." 
 
 "That's the nater o' things, at hum and abroad," added 
 Zab ; " it alus v/as so and alus will be ; and you might as weB 
 try to make the airth^revolve round tother way, and water run 
 up hill as to try to alter it." 
 
 " Not so," said Cumstock ; " for instance : who are most 
 powerful aboard the King Philip, the officers or the crew ?" 
 
 " Wai, I reckon in a fair knock down fight, the officen
 
 THE ROMANTIC ADVENTURES OF A SAILOR BOY; 39 
 
 would stand a mighty smart chance o' gettin' chawed up," an 
 swered 'Zab, without betraying a very strong suspicion he en 
 tertained of the second mate's real intentions. 
 
 " There's no doubt of it," returned the other, energetically ; 
 " and, according to the doctrine that might makes right, this 
 ship and cargo might fall into the hands of the crew !" 
 
 '' Exactly/' coincided Zab ; " and accordin' to the doctrine 
 laid down in the law, if the crew undertook any sich job, every 
 man on J em would have to dance their last jig on nothin'." 
 
 " Yes, if they were all d d fools enough to be caught," 
 added the second mate ; " but to a crew situated like this, for 
 example, there would be but slight risk. Suppose now, the 
 men of this ship should take possession of her, go to some port, 
 frequented but seldom if ever by American vessels, dispose of 
 her and her cargo, after changing her name ; then cause a re 
 port to be promulgated that the King Philip was lost on the 
 coast of Japan, or foundered at sea ; the actors in such an en 
 terprise might remain in perfect safety so far as any danger of 
 ever being called to account for it." 
 
 " Wai, I do'no about that," said Zab. " Mebbe they might 
 and ,mebbe they mightn't ; howsomever, Mr. Cumstock, I 
 reckon you would'nt dare to lead on in sich a grab-game 
 bizness." 
 
 " Wouldn't I ? Give me twenty-five lusty fellows like your 
 self, and try me," said the mate, boldly. "I've got tired of this 
 slavish life. I would strike a bold blow for a fortune ! what 
 say you ?" 
 
 " I shouldn't mind doin' a great many things for a fortin," 
 said Zab. 
 
 " Then we may count upon you as one of us ?" 
 
 " I'm one o' the King Philip's already." 
 
 " Ay ; but you know my meaning ?" 
 
 "Wai, I kinder guess what you're drivin' at," replied Stubbs, 
 " you calkilate on gettin' up a mutiny, pitch the old man over 
 board, and other things tew numerous tew mention." 
 
 "You comprehend my meaning; now, will you join us?" 
 
 " I guess I'll consider a spell 'fore I make up my mind. In 
 the first place I want tew know all the pertic'lers." 
 
 " If you will promise, solemnly, to keep the whole matter a 
 secret." 
 
 " You can depend on me ; I'm trew as steel !" replied Zab. 
 
 Cumstock being satisfied with this doubtful promise, pro 
 ceeded to detail the plan of one of the most heartless, cold 
 blooded conspiracies, ever conceived in the brain of a fiend , 
 also, the names of those enlisted in it ; and that the time foi
 
 40 YANKEES IN JAPAN \ OR, 
 
 striking the blow was fixed at four bells on the following 
 morning. 
 
 Zabdiel listened with the greatest composure to the diabolica* 
 scheme. Cumstock, believing that he was sure of his man, 
 questioned him no further. Eight bells now struck, and the 
 morning watch was relieved from duty. They all went below 
 with the exception of Zabdiel ; he sat for some time, his hands 
 busily employed whittling and scraping his tiny ivory barque, 
 while his thoughts were wholly engrossed upon the precious 
 piece of villany in contemplation. What was to be done ? 
 what steps would prudence dictate to him to take? were the 
 first queries suggested to his mind. He dared not seek an 
 interview with Captain Harold, for well he knew that every 
 movement of his would be watched by some of the wretches 
 Cumstock had enlisted in the enterprise. While thus rumi 
 nating, Paul Payson, who had been promoted to the berth of 
 Doat-steerer, came upon deck, and espying his old friend, 
 apparently in a melancholy mood of mind, went up to him, 
 and clapping him familiarly on the shoulder, exclaimed 
 
 "Halloa! messmate! you look as dull as a dead whale* 
 See, the skies are bright! and, thanks be to that last gale o 
 wind, we are once more in a comfortable latitude !" 
 
 "And in afdead calm !" added Zab. 
 
 "Ay but calms don't last long on this coast," said Paul 
 "but by four bells to-morrow morning, if there's any virtue in 
 barometers," he added, lowering his voice to an almost inaudi 
 ble tone, " we shall have a storm such as has seldom been wit 
 nessed on the coast of Japan !" 
 
 Zabdiel was startled at his words, and he looked up and met 
 the significant gaze of his young messmate. That look required 
 no explanation they understood each other as well as if their 
 thoughts had been uttered. 
 
 " Wai," said Zabdiel, relapsing into his former mood ; " if 
 we're to have another gale o' wind, we might as well prepare to 
 meet it." 
 
 " Ay, that's the word prepare !" said our hero, and he turned 
 upon his heel and went aft. 
 
 Up to this time, Captain Harold had not the slightest suspi- 
 cipn that there was anything unusual going on aboard of the 
 ship; nor had tnere been exhibited to him any symptoms of 
 discontent among the crew. Considering the heterogeneous 
 character of the present ship's company, it was frequently a 
 matter of wonder between him and the first officer, that the 
 men got along so smoothly together. 
 
 On the morning referred to, while the captain and first mate 
 were seated at the breakfast table, they were startled by a rap-
 
 THE ROMANTIC ADVENTURES OF A SAILOR BOY. iJ 
 
 ping beneath the trap-door directly under their feet. It sounded 
 like the tapping of a cane ; but what troubled them most was, 
 they were fully aware that it was irnpossihle for any human 
 being to be under the trap, because the place had been but re 
 cently quite stowed fall of old cordage, sails, etc. 
 
 The raps continuing, the captain said to Waldron,the mate 
 
 " I'll fathom this mystery, let happen what may." 
 
 The table was lifted from over the trap, and the captain, 
 sliding back the bolt which fastened it down, he lifted it up. 
 
 Nothing unusual was seen excepting the small end of a bam 
 boo stick, and perceiving that it moved, they readily accounted 
 for the rapping. But what could it mean ? whose hand guided 
 the stick ? and what earthly purpose could he have ? But Cap 
 tain Harold, being a man of courage, did not stop to deliberate. 
 He seized the bamboo stick and drew it into the cabin. It was 
 some ten feet in length, and around the large end a slip of pa 
 per was affixed, wound around with small twine. On removing 
 the twine he found it to be a note, addressed to him, which ran 
 as follows : - 
 
 "To Captain Harold There are fiends in human shape 
 aboard your ship! Prepare to counteract one of the foullest 
 conspiracies ever hatched ! Look to your small arms in the 
 cabin be suspicious of your second officer et no food that 
 is served up from the galleys to-day whaling implements, such 
 as spears, harpodns, knives, &c., should be stored beneath the 
 after-hatches, or at least put beyond the reach of the men. The 
 mutineers have their plans well laid they comprise more than 
 half of the ship's crew the writer of this has joined the gang 
 only to expose them. Be vigilant, cautious and courageous, 
 and the fiends may yet be defeated. Pardon the mode I have 
 taken to convey this information it is the only expedient I 
 could devise without incurring the liability of detection. The 
 first blow, if not thwarted, will be struck at four bells of the 
 morning watch. 
 
 (Signed) ONE WHO is IN THE SECRET. 
 
 P. 5S. The informer may be known by a blue lanyard attached 
 to his hat." 
 
 " There's a precious bit of information. Mr. Waldron,"said 
 the captain, passing the missive to the mate, who ran his eye 
 over the pencilled lines. 
 
 " By Jupiter !" exclaimed Waldron ; " this looks like mutiny, 
 indeed !" 
 
 "Can it be possible that some one of the crew is endeavor 
 ing to play a joke upon us ?'' queried Harold. 
 
 "No; it is no joke, captain, depend upon it. This explains
 
 42 YANKEES IN JAPAN; OR, 
 
 to me why the second mate has of late become so familiar 
 among the nv?n forward. But, what's to be done ?" 
 
 " First, go upon deck, and see if you can discover any man 
 with a blue lanyard in his hat, and immediately report to me." 
 <; Ay, ay, sir,"" said Waldron, and he went upon deck. 
 Without appearing to scrutinize the men, he walked forward, 
 and after giving some slight directions, he retraced his steps, 
 without discovering the sign of recognition. 
 
 It being calm weather, and but little to do, not more than 
 half of the forenoon watch on deck had yet appeared. The 
 mate, after waiting a reasonable time, went again forward, and 
 bending over the forecastle hatch, sung out 
 
 " Come, boys, tumble up here ! The decks must be washed 
 down, and the mizzen rigging needs setting up !" 
 
 Nearly all the men obeyed the order with alacrity, and among 
 the foremost to appear was Paul Payson ! He it was who wore 
 the blue lanyard ;. and when he passed the mate, their eyes 
 met ; it was but a single glance, but the expression on the part 
 of both was peculiarly significant. It seemed as if each could 
 read the thought of the other. After giving some directions in 
 fegard to the work to be done, Waldron returned to the cabin. 
 "My life on the truth of that mysterious missive," said he 
 " Have you discovered the signal ?" 
 "Aye, sir." 
 " Who wears it ?" 
 " The youngest man in the ship." 
 " What, young Payson ?" 
 " The same." 
 
 " Then, Mr. Waldron, we may as well act upon the advice 
 he has given. In the first place, let us beware of whatever 
 conies upon our table from the galley ; in this caution, there is 
 an unmistakable intimation that the food for us to-day is to be 
 poisoned. Secondly, the men must be hard-worked to-day 
 there's plenty to be done see that no one is idle." 
 
 These instructions having been given, the mate went to his 
 state-room, armed himself with a pair of revolvers, and went 
 upon deck ; while the captain proceeded to examine his arm- 
 chest, into which he had had seldom occasion to look during 
 the cruise. Great was his amazement to behold the chest 
 empty ! guns, pistols and sabres having all been removed. 
 This was a complete corroboration to his mind of the truth of 
 the startling information he had received. That Shaggy Mart 
 was the perpetrator he entertained not a doubt, for who but he, 
 except his first officer and steward, had access to the cabin. 
 His first thought would have impelled him to seize the ? uspected 
 one, iron him, and threaten his execution at the yard arm, if h*
 
 THE ROMANTIC ADVENTURES OF A SAILOR BOY. 13 
 
 did not confess all and sue for pardon ; but, not knowing to what 
 extent the ship's company were disaffected, ne, after delibera 
 tion, resolved to proceed with due caution. 
 
 Fortunately, in a private desk, he had a fine pair of revolv 
 ers and a bovvie knife, which he concealed about his person ; 
 then, taking his quadrant he went upon deck, seemingly for the 
 purpose of making an observation. The sun had not yet reached 
 the meridian, and he paced the dec'.: to and fro with a brow as 
 placid as the waveless ocean. The men had washed and 
 scrubbed the deck ; the mizzen rigging had been set up, and 
 every rope hauled taut and neatly belayed ; and the topmasts 
 had been scraped and slushed. The spar deck, too, had been 
 cleared of all the utensils for trying out oil, and stowed between 
 decks ; all the spare bits ol rope, spars, canvas, &c., had been 
 tucked away in the spare boats, making the deck look more 
 like a merchantman's just out of port, than a whaler's after a 
 successful cruise, except that the harpoons, lances, knives, 
 hatchets, &c., were yet in their racks, ready for service. The 
 two iron six-pounders, which, throughout the cruise, had stood 
 at the port-holes just abaft the mainmast, had been hauled for 
 ward nearly to the windlass, and were now, for the first time, 
 covered with canvas. 
 
 Certainly, the morning and forenoon watches had worked 
 unusually well to have accomplished so much ; and Captain 
 Harold made many pleasant remarks to the men for their pride 
 and zeal in making the old Philip look so trim and tidy. 
 
 Said he to one of the petty officers standing near 
 
 "Mr. Holmes, where have you stowed the guns?" 
 
 " Forward, sir," was the reply. 
 
 " By whose order ?" 
 
 " Mr. Cumstock's, sir," was the reply ; " he thought they 
 would be less in the way." 
 
 " Indeed ! he has singular ideas of propriety, now-a-days," 
 remarked Captain Harold. " Mr. Holmes, see to their being 
 ' toted' back to their proper places. If, perchance, we sjiould 
 be compelled to seek a Japanese harbor, we might find use for 
 them." 
 
 " To-day, sir ?" queried Holmes, suggestively ; " the men 
 have worked like so many hor " 
 
 " Now, sir immediately !" interrupted the captain. 
 
 " Very well, sir," acquiesced Holmes, gruffly, and he went 
 forward to see to the execution of the order. 
 
 Three or four men took hold of each of the gun carriages, 
 without removing the cumbersome covering. The captain 
 observing they were making an awkward job of it, sung out-
 
 44 YANKEES IN JAPAN ; OR. 
 
 " Of! with that canvas, you. lubbers ! and drag 'em along here 
 man fashion." 
 
 With apparent reluctance they removed the covering ; and 
 then, wasting as much time as they dared to, under the captainV 
 eye, in hitching on drag-ropes, they slowly propelled the heavy 
 carriages over the deck to the port holes. 
 
 "By Jupiter, Mars and Vulcan !" exclaimed the captain, ob 
 serving that the guns had been put in admirable condition for 
 use, and that the rammers, swabs and match-stocks were all in 
 their places; "by all the gods of war! the old, rusty dogs look 
 well I should not have recognized them elsewhere. I am 
 pleased to notice this very recent disposition on the part of the 
 crew to make the old King Philip worthy of her name. When 
 we get well off this ugly coast, you shall have extra allowances 
 of grog. Now, boys, as we have done blubber-hunting for this 
 cruise, I want you to stow away below, all the sharp instru 
 ments, so they 11 not be liable to rust; see, too, they are well 
 cleaned and oiled." 
 
 Some of ihe men glanced into each other's countenances 
 with a troubled look, but they dared not disobey, for their leader 
 was yet below, and of those on deck the mutineers were proba 
 bly the weakest party. 
 
 The captain scrutinized every movement closely, and inter 
 preted truly every glance. By the expression of their counte 
 nances alone, he felt as if he could select every man who was 
 engaged in a hellish conspiracy against him. 
 
 A better or severer test than the removal of those formidable 
 weapons could scarcely have been devised, for upon those 
 Shaggy Mart and his followers had depended in the hour of 
 strife. 
 
 " Take up the hatches, Mr. Holmes," said Harold, perceiving 
 that the crew lagged in the execution of this order ; " let's have 
 \he steel implements below at once." 
 
 " Ay, sir," responded Holmes, gruffly. 
 
 At this moment, eight bells struck, and Shaggy Mart who 
 had his hammock swung, by preference, in the carpenter's room 
 appeared on deck, soon followed from the forecastle by most o 
 the men of his watch. 
 
 "Mr. Cumstock," said Captain Harold, " I have just ordered 
 that all the whaling weapons be stowed below see that your 
 watch perform the duty." 
 
 The mate started as if stung by an adder, but immediately 
 reassuring himself, he said, by way of suggestion 
 
 " We may, possibly, find use for them." 
 No no more look out for blubber/' returned the captain
 
 THE ROMANTIC ADVENTURES OF A SAILOR BOY. 45 
 
 " If they be properly stowed beneath the hatches, the steel will 
 not get rusty." 
 
 Tnis plausible reason somewhat relieved Shaggy Mart from 
 the embarrassment into which he was at first thrown, and he 
 went forward to do that which he was directed to do, though 
 not in the precise manner he thought that the captain meant i r . 
 should be done. 
 
 " Up with the fore-hatches !" said he to the men standing by 
 " The old man has got one of his odd fits aboard to-day." 
 
 The fore-hatches were removed, and the men began taking 
 the harpoons, lances, and other sharp implements from theii 
 racks. 
 
 " Under the after-hatches !" suggested a low voice in the cap 
 tain's ear, from one who passed him hastily. He turned and 
 saw Paul Payson, who had just come from aioft, where he had 
 been, with others, employed in bending a new mizzen topsail 
 the old one having recently been torn from the yard in a gale 
 of wind. The youth ventured not to meet the captain's eye 
 but hastened forward to go below. 
 
 The captain paused thoughtfully for a few moments, and then 
 cried out 
 
 " Mr. Cumstock ! you will stow the implements beneath the 
 after-hatches !" 
 
 " Ay, ay, sir," growled Shaggy Mar 4 ; and then added in low 
 tones " What in h is the matter with the old man to-day ? 
 he has got some damn strange kinks in his noddle !" 
 
 Most of the men went about the job as if they deemed it a 
 disagreeable duty; and that which ordinarily would have been 
 accomplished in twenty minutes, they consumed a whole hour 
 in performing. The captain, meanwhile, paced the quarter 
 deck, watching the movements of the second-mate and the men 
 under him. At length every sharp instrument was carefully 
 stowed the hatches replac'ed the bar placed across, and the 
 padlock put on. Cumstock stooped down, pretending to lock 
 it, but he was cautious not to turn the bolt, and drawing the 
 key therefrom, he passed it to the captain. 
 
 " Now, Mr. Cumstock, you and your men may turn to and 
 set up the fore rigging," said the captain pleasantly. " Tnra 
 warm,, weather has slackened the shrouds considerably." 
 
 Captain Harold was not deceived in regard to the locking of 
 the hatchway, for no sooner had the men gone about their new 
 July, than Harold slipped the key into the lock, U'~ned the bolt, 
 and then returned the key to his pocket, all of vriich was done 
 without being observed. 
 
 " Dinna ready, capen," said Mungo, the black steward, hi 
 woolly head protruding above the companion-way slide.
 
 46 YANKEES N JAPAN J OR, 
 
 The first mate, who had been directing the work akft, \raf 
 calbd, and he and the captain went below to dine. 
 
 "Well, steward, what sort o' grub has the cook served yp 
 to-day ?" asked Captain Harold. 
 
 " Soup an' salt-horse, massa," replied Ebony 
 
 The captain raised the cover of the tureen, and took a snuif 
 of the savory esculent. 
 
 "Phew! the soup doesn't smell right," said the captain 
 " Taste it, Mr. Waldron." 
 
 "A smell is quite sufficient for me," said the mate. 
 
 "Mungo! send that Siamese son of a sea-cook into the cabin," 
 ordered Harold. 
 
 Mungo run up to the galley, and in a few moments, Chou 
 Touan, a full-blooded native of Bangkok, Siam, made his ap 
 pearance in the cabin. 
 
 " Well, Chou, what did you season the soup with ?" asked the 
 captain. 
 
 " Me pepper, me salt, me me " 
 
 "No stammering; but, tell me what you have put into thit 
 soup that you do not usually put in ?" 
 
 " Me put no noding," replied cookee, trembling. 
 
 " Did you taste it ?"" 
 
 " Me no remember." 
 
 " You smelt of it ?" 
 
 " Ee, masse." 
 
 " Did it smell good ?" 
 
 " Ee, masse, me smell um good." 
 
 " And you believe it to be good ?" 
 
 " Oh, ee, me believe um good." 
 
 " Well, Chou, seat yourself on that locker, and don't you stii 
 till I give you leave," said the captain. 
 
 The cook obeyed reluctantly, for he began to have a slight 
 apprehension that the captain might suspect him of certain sins 
 of commission for which he deserved punishment. 
 
 " You have not yet had your grub, eh ?" inquired Harold. 
 
 " Me no eatee till captain he eatee." 
 
 "But, Chou," pursued Harold, filling a bowl with the soup, 
 " at my particular request, you can have no objections in dining 
 first to-day ?" 
 
 " Ah, me no hungree me sickee me no eatee noding," said 
 Chou, exhibiting by various expressions and gestures that he 
 loathed the idea of partaking of any food just at that particu- 
 foi time. 
 
 " You must take it," said the captain, producing his revolver ; 
 " or, may I be harpooned if I don't make you swallow the con- 
 tents of this pistol '"
 
 THE EOMANTIC ADVENTURES OF A SAILOR BOY. 4"J 
 
 '* Oh, mercy, mass*? cap'en !" cried the guilty cook, groaning 
 'n agony. 
 
 "On one condition only," said Harold, "will I let you off-, 
 aiVu mat is to answei -uly to such questions as I may put to 
 yo%." 
 
 ' iee, ee, masse, me tell all true me sorree me ask forgib- 
 nee me neber do so more !" 
 
 " Then tell me, what have you put into that dish, which ought 
 not to have been there ?" asked the captain. 
 
 " Powdee, masse leetel vite powdee masse Cumstock gib 
 poor ^hou !" 
 
 " White powder arsenic, I have no doubt," said the captain. 
 "So I suppose, through this white powder we were to be made 
 food for sharks ?" 
 
 "Ee, massee so masse Cumstock telle poor Chou." 
 
 "Anc supposing the poison failed, what then ?" 
 
 "All no sidee wid Masse Cumstock, he killee wid big gun, 
 de harpoon, de spear, de knives, an trowee overboard." 
 
 " A precious piece of villany, truly," observed Harold. "And 
 how, Chou, dared you to enlist in these diabolical atrocities ?" 
 
 " Me no dare say no he swearee cut my troat, I no join 
 um. Me oery sorree me now fight for capen me do jest 
 what massa Harole say." 
 
 " Tell me, Chou, what have become of the weapons of my 
 arm-chest ?" 
 
 "I hearee say Cumstock tole um ; Chou no know whar dey 
 are, ony de secon' rnatee gib poor Chou dis ;" and the Siamese 
 drew a pistol from beneath his jacket, and gave it up to the 
 captain. " De pistol loadee, massa," continued Chou, by way 
 of a caution; "two big ball he go bang! killee captain 
 Chou be berry sorree." 
 
 The captain recognized the weapon as one belonging to the 
 arm-chest, and, on examination, he found it contained two bul 
 lets and an ample charge of powder. After the meek confes 
 sion of the frightened cook, he deemed it most judicious to let 
 him go about his business, as his detention might so alarm the 
 mutineers that they would rise before the captain could arrange 
 his plan of defence. 
 
 Under this state of things, Chou Taoun'was made to take a 
 solemn obligation, according to the rule instituted by the Tala- 
 poins, or Priests ot Siarn, which to a Siamese, is as binding as 
 the terrible oath of the Illuminati, that he would not bear arms 
 against the captain, but would fight till the last against the 
 mutineers. 
 
 Chou then returned to the galley, leaving the captain and 
 mate to dine upon some private stores, instead of rice soup.
 
 48 YANKEES IN JAPAN J OK, 
 
 Such was the position of things on board the King Philip, at 
 four bells, p. M., on that eventful day. We have before said 
 that the ship was becalmed, but those who have navigated that 
 dangerous coast, know that rude Boreas does not long suspend 
 his breath ; for of a sudden a dark line became visible \W an 
 easterly direction, as a signal that the old wind-god was again 
 to visit the whaler in his wrath. Topsails and top-gallant sails 
 were hanging idly from the yards ; but no sooner was the indi 
 cation of a blow discerned, than men were sent aloft to furl 
 top-gallant sails, but ere they could be taken in the squall struck 
 the ship with such violence that the main to' gallant yard, with 
 four men upon the foot-ropes, was carried away. One of the 
 men, in falling, was caught in the weather rigging, and was 
 saved, the other three perished. The fore top-gallant yard was 
 now abandoned, the sail being partially clewed up-was torn to 
 shreds, and soon the yard and all was flying through the air. 
 The mizzen top-gallant yard, by great exertion, was cast loose 
 and sent down. 
 
 When the squall first struck the ship she careened almost to 
 her beam-ends. The captain and mate rushed upon deck, in 
 alarm. The ship was now driving, with the wind on her quar 
 ter, directly towards the chief headland of the Bay of Omura. 
 The captain seized the helm; and now that she was relieved of 
 her top-gallant sails, brought her up into the wind, and under 
 main and fore-topsail, and fore-topmast staysail, she flew over 
 the foam-crested billows like a mad courser. The sky was now 
 veiled with fearful black clouds, the thunder rolled in the dis 
 tance, and more frightful still, the roar of breakers from that 
 rugged, rocky coast, startled the ears, even of that crew so 
 inured to storms and perils. Anon, a brilliant, dazzling, linger 
 ing line of light, like a mighty stream of molten gold, darted 
 from out of the dense masses of vapor, and shot athwart the 
 dark abyss, directly above that struggling bark. The scene for 
 a moment was too bright for mortal eyes ; a moment of dark 
 ness and suspense succeeded, and then there came one mighty 
 crash of stunning thunder from Jove's artillery, so loud that all 
 the inventive powers of earth combined would fail to produce 
 mch another sound. ' The mariners quailed and trembled, and 
 gazed upon each other in dread alarm, lest the next bolt should 
 strike the ship, and send their unshaven souls into eternity ! 
 
 But that ship's crew were doomed to greater terrors ! The 
 captain possessed no chart of the coast, and he knew not 
 whether his vessel was rushing to destruction or to a haven of 
 uafety. She was now within two leagues of the land, and with 
 the glass the natives were seen assembling on the shore, await 
 ing the catastrophe which they felt certain must befal the strange
 
 TOE PEINCJ5S3 TITCZING INTBBOKDING FOB PAUL.
 
 THE ROMANTIC ADVENTURES OF A SAILOR BOY. 51 
 
 barque. It was impossible to gain an offing, for the current set 
 in strongly towards the shore. The clouds now began to break 
 away, and the wind raged less fiercely, but the fearful cry of 
 " breakers ahead !" seemed to crush the last faint hope of the 
 most hopeful. Huge black rocks, over which the waters were 
 lashed into foam, seemed to rise up almost before them. A few 
 moments of awful suspense, during which the ship's- keel had 
 more than once grazed the jagged rocks, she weathered the 
 immediate danger, and was again in clear water. 
 
 Captain Harold breathed more freely, and hoped again, when 
 a mighty rushing of water, as if a cataract was near, again 
 startled the ears of the crew. 
 
 "A whirlpool! a whirlpool! ease her off! up with your 
 helm !" were the despairing cries of the first officer, who stood 
 in the main weather rigging, glinging to the shrouds, and watch- 
 mg for new dangers. 
 
 But the cry came too late ; the King Philip plunged madly, 
 wildly on, and was caught in the terrible vortex. No longer 
 obeying the will of the helmsman, the ship, in defiance of the 
 wind and the impetus she had gained, began to whirl around in 
 that destructive maelstrom with such violence that every sail 
 was torn from the yards, and the mainmast and foremast were 
 twisted off nearly to the deck, as if they had been a pair of 
 reeds. The men, despairingly, threw themselves down upon 
 their faces, expecting each moment to be swallowed up in that 
 hell of waters. In the midst of the impending danger, there 
 was one who never despaired ; and he toiled on, as if something 
 more could .be done. Did he believe in miracles, or why did 
 he set the spanker, as if that could avail anything ? but no 
 sooner was- the shivering sail sheeted home, than a squall struck 
 it the circling motion was suddenly checked and like a fright 
 ened, fiery steed, the ship leaped from out the vortex, and 
 plunged beyond the immediate destruction which had threat 
 ened her. 
 
 *' We're saved ! we're saved !" cried Paul Payson, seizing 
 the helm ; for he it was, who, by a wonderful presence of m ; ad, 
 had saved ship, crew and all from being swallowed up!
 
 52 YANKEES IN JAPAN ; OR, 
 
 CHAPTER V. 
 
 The Progress of the Mutiny A Peep into Japan. 
 
 THE storm was over ; the wind-god had spent its fury ; the 
 old King Philip had rode out the tempest, and miraculously 
 escaped being dashed to pieces upon rocky reefs, and from being 
 swallowed up in that greatest of all terrors to mariners, the 
 maelstrom. Now she floated upon the waters a mere hulk 
 masts, spars, rigging and sails were gone all, except the stump 
 of the mainmast, and the shreds of canvas and bits of rigging 
 which still clung to it. Floating around the dismasted ship, 
 were tangled masses of shrouds, stays, braces, halliards, splin 
 tered spars, tattered sails, &c.'in wretched confusion; while 
 upon deck, barrels, crushed boats, fragments of the cook's 
 galley, and portions of the top-hamper, completed the dis 
 ordered spectacle. Night came, and the wind blew only in 
 soft zephyrs ; the waves no longer were lashed into foam, 
 but rolled in long, gentle swells ; the stars were serenely 
 bright, and the waxing moon poured a flood of silver light 
 over the snow-capped mountains of Kiooisoo. 
 
 At six bells, evening watch, there were but few men upon 
 the whaler's deck; for the crew had worked hard, and the 
 mate gave orders for all to turn-in, except a sufficient num 
 ber to keep a look-out, as there was reason for apprehen 
 sion that they might have a visit from a few boat loads of 
 Japanese fishermen, whose religion or morality scarcely made 
 it a crime to plunder Christian ships ; but it so happened 
 that among the whaler's crew there were men more to be 
 feared than those who worshipped idols in exclusive Japan. 
 This fact, fortunately, was well known to Captain Harold, 
 otherwise he and the innocent men of his crew might be mas- 
 sacred in cold blood ; but now, having been forewarned, pre 
 parations might be made at least to sell their lives dearly. 
 Besides the captain and first mate, there were two islanders 
 and two Yankees who kept the first night-watch ; one of the 
 latter being our heroic sailor-boy, Paul Payson. It wanted
 
 THE ROMANTIC ADVENTURES OF A SAILOR BOY. 53 
 
 nome twenty minutes to eight bells, as the captain was leaning 
 against the tafferel, that he saw something, which he took to be 
 a fish, gliding smoothly along the water, about four yards from 
 the starboard side of the ship. The object somewhat attracted 
 his attention, and under ordinary circumstances he "would have 
 discharged his pistol at it; as it was, he drew one from his 
 pocket, when he saw that, on nearing the stern, it rounded to, 
 where ne lost sight of it ; but in a moment or two, however, the 
 half-shaven crown of Chou Taoun, the Siamese cook, suddenly 
 appeared above the starboard davit, followed by his sleek, oily 
 body, which was nearly nude. Noiselessly, without being seen 
 or heard except by the captain, he leaped upon the quarter 
 deck, fell upon his knees, and placing his fingers upon his lips 
 in token of silence, and beckoning to the captain to follow him, 
 he glided as stealthily as a serpent towards the companion- way, 
 down which he disappeared, followed by his astonished master. 
 
 " What means this midnight adventure, Chou ?" asked 
 Harold, still grasping his pistol, for he still somewhat doubted 
 the fidelity of his cook. 
 
 " Me telle you, masse, soon poor Chou ketchee he breath," 
 answered the Siamese in a whisper. 
 
 " Why didn't you come aft in the usual manner ?" 
 
 " Me beree fraid devil-men watchee me ; me swimee like 
 fishee me slidee in de water, nobody see me swimme, no 
 body hear me in cabin, nobody know. Now me tellee you, 
 masse. Nung, sang, sam, see, ha (one, two, three, four, five) 
 men," continued Chou, counting his fingers, " keepe watch. 
 Nung Kanacka, nung Corean, sang 'Merican, and Masse 
 Waldron. Beree goodee. Nung Kanacka, nung Corean, devil- 
 men ; sang 'Merican, good men ; Massa Waldron, he good too." 
 
 " Well, Chou, that's all very well ; but come to the point at 
 once," said Harold, impatiently. 
 
 "Eee, masse, me telle," said the Siamese, producing from his 
 girdle, a naked blade, of shining steel, and keen as a Damascus 
 razor ; " me killee sang devil-man on deck no killee sam 
 (three) goodee men ; den masse we shutee up and lockee up 
 de fo'castle den devil-men no get out." 
 
 " But there are some good men in the forecastle, I trust," 
 said Harold suggestively ; " and it would be bad policy to shut 
 them up among the bad ones." 
 
 " Ee, masse, Chou know dat," replied the Siamese ; " Chou 
 .ellee all goodee men to come on deck dey say ee. I say, 
 tellee nobody dey say no." 
 
 " But are you certain, Chou, that these bad men will not 
 abandon their wicked intentions, now that the ship is in such a 
 disabled state ?"
 
 54 YANKEES IN JAPAN \ OR, 
 
 " Me hearee secon'-matee say he no caree dam he tellee 
 devil-men, so devil-men say no caree dam too," replied Chou, 
 with great earnestness. " Now, masse, say to Chou, savee 
 ship, savee lives good men, Chou do it, or masse killee poor 
 Chou." 
 
 There was so much honest zeal expressed in the manner 
 and features of this semi-civilized native of Bangkok, that the 
 captain acquiesced in his scheme, but gave him to understand 
 that his movements would be closely watched, and on the first 
 indication of treachery, his brains would be blown out. Chou 
 promised to do everything in his power for the good of his 
 master, and for the safety of the vessel, and would willingly 
 sacrifice his life to prove his fidelity. 
 
 Mr. Waldron, the first officer, was now summoned to the 
 cabin, and made acquainted with Touan's scheme for turning 
 the tables on the mutinous wretches. The mate coincided 
 with the captain, for as yet they had been undecided in what 
 manner they could best defend themselves if attacked, trusting 
 rather to circumstances, and the aid of a portion of the crew, 
 rather than to any matured plan. 
 
 The Siamese went upon deck, followed by the master and 
 mate. How he was to accomplish his scheme without detec 
 tion, seemed a mystery to the officers, but Chou was cunning 
 as well as desperate. The two devil-men, as Chou very pro 
 perly designated them, were both forward ; to one of whom he 
 had loaned his opium smoking-pipe, two or three whiffs of the 
 delicious narcotic being quite sufficient to put him into a state 
 of dreamy'unconsciousness, and he now lay upon the deck, with 
 a coil of chain-cable for a pillow. The other, the Corean, was 
 not addicted to the stupefying habit, and he stood by the star 
 board cat head, looking, towards the shore, which was not more 
 than four miles distant, as if watching the movements of some 
 half dozen fishing junks that had rounded the headland of the 
 bay. The two Americans were amidships, keeping a look-out 
 in the same direction. 
 
 Chou, like a slimy serpent, crawled beneath the mass of torn 
 sails, rigging, etc., on the starboard side of the deck; occa 
 sionally, when his body was visible, lifting his head to watch 
 any movement of his intended victims. 
 
 In this manner he dragged himself from the cabin companion 
 way to the windlass, when he raised himself up, and making a 
 cat-like spring towards his victim, he buried the glittering steel 
 deep into his bosom ! There was a stifled shriek, and the 
 Corean fell backward into the arms of his assassin, a corpse ! 
 Then he was lifted across the bulwarks a splash succeeded 
 and all was still again ! Chou now stood over the unconscious
 
 THE BOMANTIC ADVENTURES OF A SAILOR BOY. 65 
 
 Kanacka ; he raised the yet blood-reeking blade to strike ; but 
 his hand was arrested by some one from behind. He turned, 
 and Paul stood beside him. 
 
 " Strike not, Chou !" cautioned the sailor boy in a whisper ; 
 "he is harmless no more blood than is necessary must be 
 spilt !" 
 
 " Ee, ee," returned the cook ; " me un'stan." 
 
 Chou and Paul now stood near the forecastle. Eight bells 
 were struck, and some six or eight seamen, belonging to both 
 watches, with unusual haste, rushed upon deck. While two 
 more were making less haste, Chou and Paul suddenly closed 
 up the forecastle, completely imprisoning every man that was 
 below. 
 
 Then a scene of confusion ensued which baffles all descrip 
 tion. But let us return for a moment to Shaggy Mart, who, as 
 we have before said, from choice had his quarters with the car 
 penter, in a small room, just abaft the forecastle, separated from 
 it by a partition with a slide door. When eight bells struck, 
 Shaggy Mart and Murray, the carpenter % turned out, and pre 
 pared themselves to go on deck. Hearing the men hurrying 
 above, he observed 
 
 " Ah ! the boys seem eager to commence the work. Hell 
 will be to pay presently, that's certain." 
 
 "Since the ship was dismasted, I must confess I've had no 
 heart in this business," remarked the carpenter. 
 
 " Ah ! but we'll soon put a heart into you and pluck, too 
 and money in your chest, my hearty," replied Cumstock, by 
 way of encouragement. " Ha! what's the meaning of that ?" 
 he ejaculated, as he heard loud oaths from the forecastle ; 
 " they cannot have dared to strike the blow without waiting 
 my orders !" and he ran and shoved aside the sliding door. 
 
 Here a scene presented itself which he little anticipated. 
 Some half dozen of his sworn confederates, were crowding 
 up the forecastle ladder vainly endeavoring to make their 
 egress, while the others, with weapons in their hands, stood 
 staring at each other in amazement. 
 
 Shaggy Mart comprehended their situation at a glance. 
 
 " What hell-hound has done this ?" he demanded in a fren 
 zied tone. " Who of our men are not here ?" 
 
 " The cook ! the cook !" answered a half dozen voices. 
 
 " Hell and furies ! that d d Siamese, then, is the traitor. 
 Oh ! I have had my suspicions of him since : but no matter. 
 The villain shall pay dearly for this I'll torture him! I'M 
 ikic him alive !" 
 
 '' What's to be done ?" cried an almost despairing voice.
 
 56 YANKEES IN JAPAN \ OR, 
 
 " Hew our way out ! we've weapons !" was Shaggy Mart'f 
 reply. " Courage, shipmates ! this way !" 
 
 Pell-mell, they all rushed into the carpenter's room. 
 
 '' Down with the bulk-heads !" shoutea their desperate leader 
 " Once through, all hell can't stop us from breaking through 
 the grated hatches."- 
 
 Saying this, he seized the carpenter's broad-axe, and with 
 his athletic arm, commenced cutting away at the thick-planks, 
 which fgrmed the bulkheads, between the carpenter's room and 
 the lower deck. Others, with such weapons as they could use, 
 assisted in the work of demolition with so much spirit, that 
 they soon accomplished their object. 
 
 But let us return to the spar-deck. The whole force who 
 were resolved to sacrifice their lives if necessary, in defence of 
 the ship, numbered, including captain and mate, some twelve 
 or fourteen men, while the mutineers exceeded their numbers 
 by at least double. The latter were in possession of nearly all 
 the fire-arms, and had also gained possession of axes, cleavers, 
 and other implements, which were kept in the 'carpenter's 
 loom. 
 
 The moment it was ascertained that the mutineers had hewed 
 their way through the bulk-heads, every effort was made on 
 deck to secure the grated hatchway, through which it was evi 
 dent they intended to make an egress. This was a difficult 
 opeiation, and could only be done by standing at a distance 
 and throwing upon it such heavy articles as was within their 
 reai'n, for the mutineers who had muskets stood in a square 
 below, firing volleys at intervals, while the others were at work 
 with axes, striving to make a breach through the grate which 
 separated them from the defenders of the ship. 
 
 At length a heavy broken spar was cleared from a mass of 
 rubbish, "and dragged directly across the hatchway, through the 
 centre of which a small breach had already been made. In 
 doing this, two American seamen were wounded, though not 
 mortally, by the musket shots fired from below. 
 
 A portion of a tattered sail, through the daring of our old 
 friend, Zabdiel Stubbs, was now drawn over the spar, which 
 effectually prevented the assailants from aiming their guns with 
 anything like precision. This enabled the party on deck to 
 encumber the hatch with such a weight of rubbish, that egress 
 that way seemed impossible. 
 
 Hostilities now ceased for a time. The parties were so se 
 parated from each other, that little or no execution could be 
 done on either side. True, the defenders of the ship might 
 coir.mence another attack by venturing below, but this they
 
 THE ROMANTIC ADVENTURES OF A SAILOR BOY. 57 
 
 deemed not the prudent course. They waited only for an 
 attack. 
 
 While all was comparatively quiet, the voice of Shaggy 
 Mart was heard from below: 
 
 " Captain Harold !" 
 
 " Well, villain?" was the ^esponse. 
 
 " Spare our lives, and we'll lay down our arms and return to 
 duty." 
 
 " What surety can we have of your good behavior ?" que 
 ried the captain. 
 
 "Our oaths !" 
 
 "Murderers oaths!" returned the captain. "Hell-hounds! 
 I'd sooner set the ship on fire, than take the oath of the least 
 wicked among ye !" 
 
 ' " By all the imps of hell ! you shall have your choice !" re- 
 turned the infuriated mutineer. "Ha, ha, ha!" he wildly 
 laughed; "I have to thank you for the suggestion. The ship 
 shall be fired ! ha, ha, ha !" 
 
 'Fire away!" returned Harold, unterrified by the threat. 
 " Fire away ! and we'll make sure that it shall be your funeral 
 pyre ! >; 
 
 " And yours, too !" added Shaggy Mart. 
 
 " Don't flatter yourself with any such notion," replied Harold. 
 " We've one seaworthy boat left yet, and plenty of floating 
 spars abuui, with which we can construct a raft; besides, we're 
 within a league of shore. So fire away your crimes deserve 
 no less a punishment!" 
 
 " 1 fear not death," said Cumstock. 
 
 There was a dead silence for some minutes. The captain's 
 men sat anxiou&ly awaiting the next demonstration of the 
 fiends below. 
 
 Presently, a thin curl of smoke was seen rising from beneath 
 the mass of rubbish on the grated hatches; the fumes of burn 
 ing oakum was quickly perceptible ; and, soon, a tongue of 
 /lame, shot up from tne combustible mass. 
 
 But, Captain Haroid, had determined that the ship should be 
 saved at all hazards ; and no sooner was the diabolical threat 
 made, than he ordered all the buckets to be brought and lan 
 yards swung to them. They were immediately filled from the 
 larboard side of the vessel, which had heeled considerably in 
 consequence of the shifting of a portion of the cargo during the 
 rough gaie recently experienced. 
 
 On the first indications that the fiendish threat was put in 
 execution, the men who had buckets began dashing water on 
 the burning pile, while others used every exertion to smother it 
 by spreading pieces of sails, saturated with salt water, orer the
 
 b8 YANKEES IN JAPAN \ OR, 
 
 mass. For a time, it was doubtful which would corquer, the 
 fire, or those who fought it so vigorously ; -but at length the 
 latter prevailed, and the old King Philip was once more saved 
 from threatened destruction. 
 
 The mutineers, by no means, intended thus to sacrifice them 
 selves ; for, while all on deck were striving to quench the flames, 
 their enemies were using equal exertions to make a breach 
 through the forecastle. The carpenter's saw had been busy 
 for some time ere their intentions were discovered ; and in a 
 very few minutes they would have cut their way through had 
 they been left unmolested. Unfortunately for them, they com 
 menced the work with their axes ere the saw had done its quiet 
 work. One fellow succeeded in getting his hands through an 
 aperture, for the purpose of wrenching off a strip of board ; but 
 dearly" did he pay for his temerity. The naked hands were dis 
 covered by Chou, and, in an instant with his sharp-edged creese, 
 (a Siamese weapon) he severed both hands from the wrists at 
 a single blow, and with as keen a relish as if he were chopping 
 mutton to serve up for his own palate. The maimed one sud 
 denly drew in his bloody stumps, and uttering a hideous, ringing 
 yell, he fell to the forecastle floor ! Yet the mutineers conti 
 nued to work away, notwithstanding one of the boldest among 
 them was no better than a dead man to them. But all in vain ; 
 they toiled against every disadvantage in this quarter. 
 
 Again operations were suspended, and Shaggy Mart once 
 more appealed to the captain for a cessation of the strife, pro 
 mising to submit to any conditions, however humiliating, if he 
 would set them free from the trap in which they were caught, 
 and spare their lives. 
 
 But Captain Harold now knew too much of the character of 
 the men he had to deal with ; he was aware, too, that they 
 knew too well, even if he spared them, they must suffer the 
 ignominious death of pirates, if they were ever afterwards de 
 tected. Their crimes, already committed, were enough to 
 carry them to the scaffold, and well they knew it. What, then, 
 were the violation of promises and oaths to men who had for 
 feited their right even to live? Nothing ; and so reasoned the 
 commander of the King Philip, otherwise his really magnani 
 mous soul would have prompted him to extend some clemency 
 to those misguided wretches who were striving to destroy him 
 and the resolute defenders of his ship. For these and other 
 reasons did the captain decline to treat with the miscreants, 
 and he refused Shaggy Mart's proposition with words intended' 
 rather to inflame than allay the choler of this mutinous fiend. 
 
 " Hell's torments shall then be your portion ! and quickly, 
 too ! ay, we'll all go to pandemonium together !" shouted the
 
 THE ROMAN TIC ADVENTURES OF A SAILOR BOY. 69 
 
 mutineer in threatening language, in reply to the captain's em 
 phatic refusal. " There are three kegs of powdfer within my 
 reach I Ah, ha, ha! there's no escape by boat, you see! 
 Have I touched you now !" 
 
 " No I'm not a man to be intimidated by threats !" an 
 swered Harold ; no, not if every cask below deck contained 
 powder instead of oil ! and a man of courage instead of a* 
 coward threatened me." 
 
 " May hell's curses light upon you!" returned the enraged 
 Cumstock. " 1 11 yet find means to bring you to your marrow 
 bones ! I'll give you one hour to come to terms one momen 
 after that, the powder shaft be fired !" 
 
 " Fire away ! ' I'll parley no longer with a cowardly wretch !" 
 said the captain. 
 
 " Your insolence has sealed the doom of the ship and all her 
 crew !" 
 
 Uttering these words, Shaggy Mart left the forecastle, not 
 for the purpose of carrying his threat into execution he was 
 too much of a coward, indeed, for any act so desperate as that 
 but for the purpose of reconnoitering, with the hope that some 
 chance yet remained to regain the deck. 
 
 At length, some of the mutineers, on discovering that the firo 
 was quenched, began examining its effect. They found thai 
 .he grated hatch was burnt to a cinder, and it required but a 
 slight effort of the hand to clear it away. Still, the half-burnt 
 spar supported the rubbish above ; but it was thought they 
 might possibly make their way through it, while the contest 
 was going on forward. 
 
 Holmes was the first man to try the dangerous experiment ; 
 and, to his surprise, on raising himself up, the fire had so far 
 burned the bottom of the pile, that he was enabled to-thrust his 
 arm through it, and without being discovered he succeeded in 
 clearing away a space sufficiently large to admit his body. 
 
 Holmes immediately passed the word below for his comrades 
 to follow, and then forced himself through the offensive heap, 
 gained the open air. and laid flat upon the deck, unseen by the 
 enemy, until some three or four had done likewise, and among 
 these,* was Cumstock, their leader. 
 
 Waldron, the first officer, first discovered the mutineers, and 
 gave the alarm. The men forward, headed by their comman* 
 der, rushed forth to meet them. Now came " the tug of war." 
 Shaggy Mart, like an uncaged tiger, fought with desperation. 
 Armed with a heavy broad-axe, which he wielded with great 
 power, he, together with most of his comrades, armed with 
 muskets, succeeded for some time in keeping the ship's defenders 
 at bay. Indeed, for a long time, he seemed to have the idvan-
 
 60 YANKEES IN JAPAN J OR, 
 
 tage; but the tide of battle at length turned. Single-handed, 
 Captain Hait>ld engaged the desperado ; against the battle-axe 
 he opposed a small sabre, which was struck from his hand; he 
 then drew his revolver ; but one charge remained in it ; un 
 fortunately that missed fire! The formidable weapon of his 
 antagonist was raised ; but ere it descended, a lance whizzed 
 across the deck, and struck the ruffian ! It pierced his body 
 through, and he fell upon the deck a corpse, without uttering a 
 groan ! The lance which thus saved the commander's life, and 
 in all probability was the blow which decided the contest, was 
 darted by the unerring arm of Paul Payson, who watched with 
 eagerness, the combat of the two leaders. 
 
 The assailants paused and fell back when they beheld the fall 
 of Shaggy Mart. 
 
 "Onward! onward ! comrades!" shouted Holmes, who now 
 assumed the leadership of the mutinous gang. " Fight ! right 
 to the last gasp! Give no quarter! take none! If we allow 
 ourselves to be taken alive, we shall be tortured to death ! re 
 member that. But we'll not be taken our case is not so des 
 perate as it looks. On, on, boys ! we'll conquer yet !" 
 
 This speech seemed to inspire the mutineers with new courage 
 
 " Conquer or die !" was their cry. 
 
 Like so many fiercely wild savages they renewed the attack, 
 and never did men fight more bravely ; but their impetuosity 
 destroyed them. Their enemies were cool as well as courage 
 ous, and being now mostly armed with harpoons, lances and 
 spears, they thrust them through as if they had been so many 
 seals. 
 
 The slaughter was immense. All had fallen, save two. 
 Bather than die as they had seen their comrades die, they leaped 
 overboard, and quickly fell a prey to the shoal of sharks which 
 were attracted about the ship by the smell of human blood. 
 
 The deadly strife was ended, and the rightful party main 
 tained possession of the ship ; but they had suffered severely, 
 for of the whole number of men, who had fought with the cap 
 tain, ouly six remained, besides the two officers, who were fit 
 for duty. 
 
 The bodies of the mutineers were thrown overboard, to gorge 
 the stomachs of the ravenous creatures which had already de- 
 roured two of their number. Those who had fallen among the 
 defenders, were consigned to the deep in a less summary way ; 
 indeed, not until their bodies had been carefully sewed in canvas, 
 and the impressive burial service of the sea performed in a sol 
 emn manner. 
 
 With what ,'oy did the remaining portion of that ship's crew
 
 THE ROMANTIC ADVENTURES OF A SAILOR BOY. 61 
 
 nail the dawn of morning, after that night of terrors. The sun 
 arose from out the calm ocean in all his regal majesty ; soft 
 breezes rippled the golden-tinged waters, and the sky was clear 
 and cloudless. The King Philip had floated past the northerly 
 headland of the Bay of Omura, and catching the swelling tide, 
 .she drifted past the island of Papenberg. Fearing to enter far 
 ther into the Japanese harbor of Nagasaki, she anchored near 
 the island, the captain trusting, that under the circumstances, 
 he would be allowed to remain there, unmolested, until. he could 
 rig jury-masts, and otherwise put the ship in a condition that 
 he might proceed to some port where he could obtain a complete 
 rig before attempting a voyage homeward by the way of Cape 
 Horn. Captain Harold knew something of the characteristics 
 of the Japanese people, and he knew, too, that the decree ex 
 cluding foreigners from landing upon their territory, was in full 
 force. The ship was moored about four miles from Nagasaki, 
 and about a mile and a half from the nearest shore, though 
 within two cable lengths of the little island of Papenberg, 
 which was inhabited only by a few fishermen. Here, it was 
 thought they might be able to remain, unquestioned by the au 
 thorities, providing they attempted not to go on shore. 
 
 But they were too charitable in their estimate of Japanese 
 hospitality ; for, scarcely had five minutes elapsed, after drop 
 ping anchor, when upon the heights ashore, a display of striped 
 canvas began to be made, extending along on either side for 
 nearly a mile. This canvas was painted so as to resemble for 
 tifications, and the Americans would have been deceived thereby, 
 had they not observed the mock fortresses made with their 
 own eyes. Presently a gun was fired from one of those petti 
 coat forts ! This was a signal for some important movement. 
 
 The captain took his glass and looked towards Nagasaki, 
 when to his amazement, he beheld a fleet of row-boats, num 
 bering hundreds, shoot out from the shore, and with naval pre 
 cision, form into lines or platoons, eight deep. At a distance 
 they looked like a brigade of infantry, in marching order, the 
 boats being gaily painted, and all alike, with the exception of 
 some half dozen, which our Yankee friends supposed contained 
 the Mandarins, or officers of this formidable flotilla, as they 
 were somewhat larger, and were gorgeously gilded instead of 
 being painted. 
 
 A gun fired from one of the sham forts, appeared to be the 
 signal for the moving of this belligerent-looking, aquatic pro 
 cession. The vast pageant moved down the harbor in perfect 
 order, attracting a vast concourse of the inhabitants all along 
 the shores and heights of the picturesque bay. The spectacle, 
 to the Americans aboard the whaler, was as magnificent as it
 
 02 YANKEES IN JAPAN; OR, 
 
 was novel ; and as it grew nearer, a Babel of sounds was heard 
 though intended for music, yet to the strangers it was discord 
 most horrible, and one would have not required a great stretch 
 of the imagination, to have supposed that Satan had marshalled 
 his forces to the music of the grand pandemonium band. Such 
 a braying of horns, clanging of cymbals, ringing of bells, crash 
 ing of gongs, was scarcely ever heard even by the Celestials at 
 the Feast of Lanterns. Added to this, the numerous display 
 of gay banners, pennons and streamers, and one can form in his 
 mind a tolerably accurate idea of that formidable array, which 
 undoubtedly was put in motion to impress the strangers with 
 the mighty warlike resources of the Japanese Empire, and to 
 strike awe to their hearts, rather than for the purposes of at 
 tacking and destroying a ship which had put in there in dis 
 tress. 
 
 Soon the van of this imposing flotilla came within a cable's 
 length distance of the King Philip's bow, when the column se 
 parated, three lines of which, to use a military phrase, deploy 
 ing to the right and left, then proceeding on with remarkable 
 regularity, circularly, until they had passed a few rods beyond 
 a line with the ship's stern ; then closing up in the same order, 
 they formed a circle, three deep, completely around the ship. 
 
 This grand manoeuvre would, perhaps, have done very well 
 for the intimidation of an unarmed whaler, or merchantman, 
 but a like manosuvre, for the same purpose, with a frigate, or 
 even a sloop-of-war, might be laughed at ; for a few broadsides 
 could have annihilated such a force, so arranged, in a space of 
 time that would have allowed few if any to have escaped. 
 
 When the ship became completely surrounded, the terrible 
 music ceased, and in a moment each boat was attached to the 
 other, by passing a small cliain from the bow of one to the 
 stern of the one immediately in advance ; thus forming a 
 perfect circular bridge or endless chain of boats. This being 
 accomplished, each man substituted an antiquated looking 
 musket for his oar, and thus they all stood in magnificent and 
 fearful array, before that handful of American whalemen. 
 
 These were called the guard-boats of his puissant excellency, 
 the Governor of Kiooisoo, a Mandarin, or noble, of the seccfhd 
 grade. 
 
 A few moments elapsed, when one of the larger boats, one 
 more gorgeously decorated than the rest, with a splendid ban 
 ner, containing some fabulous monster for a device, left the 
 warlike circle, and approached the strange ship which was 
 moored in prohibited waters. The Yankees had looked upon 
 this scene with more of wonder than of awe ; and now they 
 turned their eyes upon the single approaching object, whicfa 
 
 i
 
 THE ROMANTIC ADVENTURES OF A SAILOR BOY 63 
 
 was to make known the meaning and intent of this singular 
 display. The boat, or barge it may be termed, of the chief of 
 the flotilla, was not merely a tinselled affair ; its drapery of 
 orange and violet-colored silks, with its golden ornaments, showed 
 ofT to better advantage on a nearer view. It was manned by 
 twelve oarsmen, dressed in a superb uniform, while the chief 
 was arrayed in a costly and magnificent oriental costume. By 
 the side of the chief sat a gentleman in European costume, who 
 proved to be a Dutch interpreter, but who was a master of the 
 English*, as well as other European languages. 
 
 Gracefully and majestically the barge swept alongside the 
 weather-beaten ship, and hauled up to the gangway. Captain 
 Harold ordered the gangway-stairs to be let down and the in 
 terpreter followed by the officer, came on deck. 
 
 After a brief introductory conversation, the interpreter said 
 
 " You are from the United States, I perceive ?" 
 
 " We are." 
 
 " And you have ventured into these interdicted waters be 
 cause in the disabled state of your ship you could make no 
 other port?" observed the interpreter, interrogatively. 
 
 " We are here, sir, because the current set us in," replied 
 Harold. " We know the Japanese decree, shutting out foreign 
 ships from their harbors, and be assured it was not our will, 
 but the will of Providence which sent us hither." 
 
 "What is your will ?" 
 
 " To remain here a few days simply for the purpose of fitting 
 up the ship so that we may set sail for a more friendly port," 
 answered captain Harold. 
 
 The interpreter turned towards the splendidly appareled offi 
 cer, and after a brief parley in the Japanese tongue, the former 
 thus addressed our Yankee captain : 
 
 " I am instructed to say that the Japanese laws are subject 
 to the laws of the Almighty. What He has decreed cannot be 
 changed by the spiritual or secular emperor of this mighty em 
 pire. Providence has driven your ship into a prohibited port; 
 to show you that the Japanese are not that inhospitable people 
 which they have been described in other parts of the civilized 
 world to be, your ship will be allowed to remain here Jen days, 
 for the purpose you have mentioned, on one condition." 
 
 "And what is that?" 
 
 . " That yourself and two of your men become hostages that, 
 under no circumstances, not one of this ship's company shall 
 attempt to land upon our shores, or attempt to board any junk, 
 barge, boat, or other water-craft, in Japanese waters." 
 
 Captain Harold, after consultation with his first officer, ac 
 cepted the terms thus imposed.
 
 64 YANKEES IN JAPAN J OR, 
 
 " Should this condition be violated," added the interpreter, 
 " I would not answer for your head. Choose your companions." 
 
 " My brave men," said Captain Harold, turning to his crew, 
 " J will not urge or even ask any one of you to become, with 
 myself, a hostage, or a sort of prisoner, to the government of 
 this strange people. You have had the same opportunity to 
 judge whether they mean well or ill that I have had. Let me 
 say, however, I have no apprehensions that they will not keep 
 their faith ; and as I have some curiosity to see more of this 
 strange people, I had rather go than remain on board, during the 
 specified time the ship is to be moored in these waters. Those 
 of you who will volunteer to accompany me will please step 
 forward." 
 
 Paul Payson, as if his happiness depended upon the adven 
 ture, leaped forward, took off his hat, made a true sailor's bow, 
 and said, almost breathlessly, 
 
 " I will go, sir." 
 
 " And, may I never see hum, if I do'nt go tew/' said Zab- 
 diel Stubbs, stepping forward, and going through similar motions 
 to his friend Paul. 
 
 " Thanks, my brave fellows ; I could not have made a better 
 selection," remarked Captain Harold. Then addressing the 
 interpreter, he said, "in thirty minutes we shall be ready to 
 accompany you." 
 
 A change of wardrobe and a few directions to Mr. Waldron, 
 the first officer, were all the preparations necessary. Paul ap 
 peared on deck clad precisely as he was on the day he went 
 aboard the King Philip, while Zabdiel donned that "long tail 
 blue," which had been repaired since its curtailment, and en 
 cased his nether limbs in that same pair of unmentionables, 
 straps and all. It was evident that he had the idea in his mind 
 of making an impression among the hearts of the Japanese 
 girls, should he chance to fall in with any. 
 
 Before the moment arrived for departure, Mr. Waldron 
 beckoned Paul into the cabin, when he placed a pair of revol 
 vers in his hands, saying 
 
 " Stow these under your jacket ; they may be of service to 
 you ; and, as for ammunition, help yourself from my chesfr." 
 
 " Ay, ay, sir ; and many thanks, too," replied our hero, who 
 soon armed and equipped himself for considerable of a siege. 
 
 The captain had taken a like precaution, and so had Zabdiel, 
 and thus secretly armed, they announced their readiness to 
 depart. 
 
 The trio of Americans were politely escorted aboard the 
 gilded barge, and put off for the fleet. As soon as it had taken 
 its place in the circle, a signal was given, the unearthly music
 
 THK ABDUOT10M.
 
 THfi BOMANTIC ADVENTURES OF A SAILOR BOY 67 
 
 ftruck up, and the imposing flotilla moved up the harbor towards 
 Nagasaki, leaving some half a score of boats behind to guard 
 the ship, or rather, watch the movements of the sailors aboard 
 of her, with instructions, also, to supply any stores from shore 
 for the ship that might be deemed absolutely necessary. 
 
 Never did a conquering hero have a more magnificent escort 
 into a city, than did our Yankee friends to the imperial quay at 
 Nagasaki. On the shore they were met by the Governor of 
 Kiooisoo, placed in a magnificent wheelless vehicle, which being 
 raised to the shoulders of a score or more of men,, they were 
 escorted by the Governor's retinue, through the narrow, thronged 
 streets, to the grand palace. 
 
 "Gineral- musters and cattle-shows!" at length exclaimed 
 Zab, unable any longer to keep his astonishment bottled up ; 
 " this beats harpoonin' whales and lickin' mutineers ! wonder 
 what's it all abaout? Steady, there, you Japan fallers ! we 
 ain't used to ridin' on no wheels, no haow ! Wai, by Jehu, this 
 is goin' on't ! I hope, capen, they'll gin us some fresh grub 
 it's nigh abaout grub* time, naow ? Thunder and turnips.! 
 everybody looks jest like them play-acters at the Mewseum in 
 Bosting ! Helloa, there, what are ye abaout, you Japan chaps ! 
 you'll teep us out into the road, ef you ain't darned keerful I 
 Steady, now, as we sailors say mind your -helm ! I say, old 
 chap, can't you give us a chaw o' tobacker ? I ain't had a 
 chaw since we took the last barrel o' blubber, I ain't by pewter!" 
 
 But Zab's observations were cut off by their arrival at the 
 palace gate ; for he became dumb with astonishment at the 
 splendor which here burst upon his bewildered senses ; but we 
 shall not undertake a description of Japanese magnificence at 
 this time, as we shall have occasion to refer to it in the suc 
 ceeding chapters of this veritable yarn, as well as to many 
 peculiarities of the people of this interesting country.
 
 YANKEES IN JAPAN ; O, 
 
 CHAPTER VI. 
 
 Wonders of Japan Reception of the American Whalemen 
 The Governor and the Princess -Our hero makes an im 
 pression. 
 
 IT has been remarked by some voyagers to the islands of the 
 western Pacific, that it is a much easier matter to land on the 
 shores of Japan than to sail therefrom. Be this as it may, we 
 shall not argue the point in this chapter, but leave events in the 
 history of those we have landed there to settle the question. 
 
 The wealth and magnificence of this empire, of filly millions 
 of souls, have never been exaggerated. More is known of its 
 condition as it existed two hundred years ago, by other nations, 
 than is known by them of its present condition. Then her his 
 tory was not a "sealed book ;" for she had commercial inter 
 course with Portugal, Holland, China, and other nations ; and 
 many Europeans found there a home, and were treated with 
 such leniency, that the Jesuits, to reciprocate their kindness, 
 commenced teaching them the Romish creed. In time, so nu 
 merous had their proselytes become, that the holy fathers began 
 to assume importance, and refused to pay that respect and obe 
 dience to either the spiritual or secular emperor, and to the 
 princes of the empire, which they demanded. This impolitic 
 course caused one of the bloodiest massacres on record ; forty 
 thousand Catholic Christians having been butchered in the space 
 of a few months ; indeed, all who professed Christianity were 
 exterminated, and the ports of the empire were closed against 
 all nations. Subsequently, the Dutch were permitted to send a 
 ship, once or twice a year, and the Chinese more frequently, 
 to the port of Nagasaki ; but neither officers or crew were per 
 mitted to come ashore, except upon a little islet in the harbor, 
 connected with the imperial pier by a drawbridge. The bridge, 
 since its construction, has been constantly and strictly guarded. 
 This islet has several buildings upon it, surrounded by a high 
 wall, and looks like a prison ; in fact, we believe, that it is so 
 termed. Here is transacted all the business which Japan me) 
 chants have with " outsiders."
 
 ^HE ROMANTIC ADVENTURES OF A SAILOR BOY. 69 
 
 Of late years, however, the Japanese have so relaxed the 
 enforcement of their ancient decree of prohibition, that they 
 have occasionally permitted foreigners to come ashore ; but 
 they make prisoners of them as soon as they land, elicit 
 what information they can from them, treat them well other 
 wise, though seldom suffering them to leave the country. 
 
 If this empire was noted for its resources and magnificence 
 two centuries ago, what must be its splendors now, if as asserted, 
 it has increased in wealth, population and resources, since they 
 cut off their commercial intercourse, almost entirely, from the 
 rest of the world. No wonder was it, that the eyes of the three 
 Americans of the King Philip, were bedazzled at the costly 
 splendors which they beheld on every side, on entering the 
 palace grounds of the governor. Gold here seemed as abundant 
 as base metals are with us, for it gave lustre to every thing to 
 which it could impart elegance, even to the entire roofs of the 
 palace edifices, and to stately pillars, porticos, balustrades, etc. ; 
 out all this glitter of precious metal was relieved by beauties 
 more attractive to the man of refined taste. The gardens were 
 taid out with consummate skill, showing a perfection in horti 
 culture and floriculture, the rest of the world has scarcely 
 dreamed of. Native and exotic plants were made to thrive 
 equally well together ; and it seemed as if here was, truly, the 
 Court of Flora ; and that all her subjects were fully represen- 
 teo. But what appeared more wonderful still, was the evidences 
 that the Japanese understood the art of increasing and reducing 
 the size of flowers. Peach and cherry blossoms were made to 
 grow to the size of roses, and roses and carnelias to the size of 
 sun-flowers. Forest trees were made to grow beyond their 
 known size in Europe or America, and were so dwarfed that 
 half a dozen varieties were to be seen, in perfect health, in a 
 glass case two inches in height. Cascades and fountains, vine- 
 embowered walks, and various other attractions, completed the 
 picture which met the view of the strangers from a far-off 
 land. 
 
 Captain Harold, with Paul and Zabdiel, were at length es 
 corted into the reception saloon, where sat, in regal dignity, the 
 governor of Kiooisoo, arrayed in gorgeous robes, attended by 
 his subordinates, also magnificently appareled. His daughter, 
 the lovely princess Titczing, whose curiosity to see the strangers 
 was unbounded, was permitted to be present with her maids. 
 She was attired in a magnificent robe of silk, ornamented with 
 innumerable gems, while upon her neck she wore a necklace 
 of pink pearls, each of which would have added beauty to the 
 richest coronet of Europe. The style of b?r head-dress seemed 
 to have been borrowed from the Persia* was dazzlingly
 
 70 YANKEES IN JAPAN J OR, 
 
 beautiful ornate with the richest of diamonds, emeralds, rubies, 
 topazes, carbuncles, and other precious gems. Titczing was a 
 great favorite among the noble gallants of Nagasaki, and scarce 
 ly one was there who had not sued in vain for her hand. She 
 was beautiful, too, according to the standard of Japanese beauty. 
 She was also well educated and accomplished; and what was 
 quite remarkable in a Japanese lady, she could read and speak 
 several foreign languages, and among them the English. Of 
 course, the interview which followed, was, on this account, a 
 matter of greater curiosity to the charming princess, than to 
 most of those in attendance. 
 
 Talk of Yankee inquisitiveness! why the Japanese are more 
 than our equals in this respect ; for, truly, most of their infor 
 mation, regarding what is going on in other parts of the earth, 
 is by this means obtained ; and although their occasional visit 
 ants at Nagasaki factory or prison, on the island, are Dutchmen, 
 yet they contrive to squeeze from their somewhat obtuse intel 
 lects, the leading movements of European and American na 
 tions ; but, whenever, by chance, a Yankee, a John Bull, or a 
 Johnny Crapeau, is thrown upon their shores, then do they ex 
 ercise their inquisitive powers to the utmost, and in some 
 instances have extorted answers to their inquiries by threats 
 of severe punishment. 
 
 Captain Harold, desirous of making a eood impression upon 
 his inquisitors as to the character and condition of the Ameri 
 can people, frankly replied to ail the questions put to him 
 through the interpreter, making such observations, from time 
 to time, as he deemed prudent and politic. The form and cha 
 racter of our republican institutions ; their probable perma 
 nence ; the system of education ; our vast resources and com 
 mercial enterprise ; internal improvements ; the magnetic 
 telegraph, &c., &c., were among the subjects of inquiry. All 
 of which the governor listened to with the most profound at 
 tention, while his scribe made record of all the information 
 thus elicited. In return, there was one item of intelligence the 
 Americans received through the interpreter, which they had 
 not before learned, and that was the war with Mexico, and the 
 brilliant successes of our armies on the Rio Grande, and the 
 Valley of Mexico, under the gallant Generals Taylor and Scott ; 
 and, thereby, the acquisition of California and New Mexico. 
 
 At this unexpected news, Zabdiel could not suppress the pa 
 triotic ardor which filled his breast, and to give vent to his 
 feelings, he swung his hat above his head, and shouted to the 
 lop of his voice : 
 
 " Hurray ! hurray ! ! hurray ! ! ! Three cheers foi old Zack >
 
 THE ROMANTIC ADVENTURES OF A SAILOR BOY. 71 
 
 * * * Three cheers for Gineral Scott ! * * * Three more for 
 the univarsal Yankee nation !" 
 
 The very hall rung with Zab's patriotic and enthusiastic ex 
 clamations. The Japanese were startled at this singular de 
 monstration ; and the governor gravely inquired if the strangely 
 acting man was not a lunatic. 
 
 " Flints and firelocks !" exclaimed Zab, on being informed 
 of the governor's apprehension ; " 1 rayther guess not ; I feei 
 though exactly as I dew on the Fourth o' July rayther inde 
 pendent!" 
 
 A word of timely caution from Captain Harold, cut short 
 Zab's patriotic ebullition, and, perhaps, saved our countrymen 
 from a deal of trouble. 
 
 Some few questions were put to Zabdiel and Paul, to all of 
 which they gave satisfactory answers. Indeed, the latter made 
 quite an impression by his intelligent manners, and the clear 
 ness with which he explained the wonderful discovery of ether 
 as an anaesthetic agent, and other achievements in medical and 
 mechanical science. 
 
 This inquisitorial interview lasted about two hours, when 
 the sound of a gong announced that the dining hour had ar 
 rived. 
 
 Our friends were now escorted into a magnificent hall ; but 
 no signs of dinner were visible, much to the disappointment of 
 Zabdiel, who declared himself hungry enough to "eat a raw 
 shark." There were no chairs or tables, but at one end of the 
 room there was a " dais;" furnished in luxurious style, with soft 
 mats, ottomans, &c., upon which the strangers were directed 
 to seat themselves. 
 
 "Capen," said Zab, when they were left alone, with the ex 
 ception of a guard at the entrance; "Capen, I'm kinder 
 s'picious these Japan fallers mean to starve us ; but, by the 
 etarnal, as Gin'ral Jackson used to say when his darnder was 
 riz, I'll have some grub, if I have to fight for it. Wonder which 
 is the shortest cut to the parntry ? Helloa, you Japan sojer, 
 (addressing the guard) just you tell the guv'nor's cook to send 
 us in a plate o' cold vittles, if she aint got nothin' hot." 
 
 ' Be patient, Stubbs," said the captain ; " the governor 
 means well, and we shall fare well depend upon it." 
 
 " But, capen, I can't stand, no haow !" continued our hungry 
 Yankee. " I wonder what they live on in this country ? 1 hope 
 they know beans better than to eat rats, mice and puppies, as 
 them China fallers do. Oh ! I'd gin the best whale's tooth in 
 my hull collection for a thick slice or two o' roast beef, or roast 
 pork, goose, turkey, or any o' that kind o' grub we used to hev 
 at hum ; and top off with an Ingen johnny-cake and a punkin'
 
 72 YANKEES IN JAPAN J OR, 
 
 pie ; and wash it down with a quart o' the old man's last year's 
 cider! Cabbages and cauliflowers ! why don't the} " 
 
 Zab's gastronomic comments were cut short, by another 
 quaking sound from the gong, when a side-door opened, and 
 some half a score or more of servants, bearing massive golden 
 dishes in their hands, which they ranged upon the dais, at the 
 feet of the foreigners. These dishes were immediately unco 
 vered, and displayed to the hungry trio, boiled, baked, and fried 
 fish of various kinds ; broiled and roasted birds ; rice, bread 
 fruit, and other vegetables ; indeed, it was a banquet fit for an 
 emperor, but how to eat it, without knives or forks, puzzled 
 them exceedingly. A servant, perceiving the embarrassment 
 of the guests, put those strange little table implements, chop 
 sticks, upon a golden tray, and passed them to the guests ; but 
 still they understood not how they were to accomplish their 
 craving desires decently, now that each had possession of chop 
 sticks. The servant hereupon undertook to instruct them in 
 the use of this substitute for knife and fork, by going through 
 the motions. 
 
 " Wai," says Zab, " I'd rather eat my grub with marlin- 
 spikes, or my old grandmother's knittin' needles. I say, yeou 
 Japan chap, can't yer lend us a knife, a fork, or a spoon ? Oh, 
 yeou can't talk the United States lingo. Wai. you'd better 
 larn it." 
 
 Finding he could not make the "Japan chap" understand, 
 Zab out with his sheath-knife, and using his fingers in lieu of a 
 fork, commenced a hungry attack upon the savory and really 
 delicious viands before him ; while the captain and Paul strove 
 to make the best use of the chop-sticks possible ; but they found 
 it so awkward a piece of business that they were compelled to 
 imitate the voluble Zabdiel's example, and resort to the more 
 primitive mode of using their fingers, assisted by their pocket 
 knives. 
 
 After surfeiting themselves upon fish and fowl, (the Japanese 
 never eat the flesh of quadrupeds,) the substantials were re 
 moved, and delicious fruits spread before them, accompanied by 
 a large silver pitcher filled with " sackee," which they poured 
 into goblets of the same precious metal, and passed to the 
 guests. " Sackee" is the eau-de-vie of the Japanese ; in fact, 
 almost the only kind of ardent spirits used in the country. It 
 is distilled from rice, is white as milk, very pure, agreeable to 
 the taste, and as steong as the jolliest son of Neptune could 
 desire. 
 
 Now, it so happened, that our friend Zabdiel had a decided 
 taste for " grog ;" in truth, the love thereof was his greatest 
 weakness ; and, inasmuch, as he had'nt had the pleasure of im-
 
 THE ROMANTIC ADVENTURES OF A SAILOR BOY. 73 
 
 bibing a single cup for some six weeks the King Philip's stock 
 having become exhausted it is not a matter of very great 
 surprise that, on this occasion, he should have drank deeply, 
 particularly, as he came at once to the conclusion, that sackee 
 was the most delicious of all liquors. Captain Harold fre 
 quently cautioned him to beware of taking too much ; but his 
 caution was entirely lost on Zabdiel, for in less than thirty 
 minutes after he had tasted sackee, he was stretched out in a 
 horizontal position, perfectly unconscious of any thing that was 
 transpiring around him. 
 
 The old governor, when he was made acquainted with the 
 effect that sackee had had upon one of his guests, he could not 
 avoid laughing heartily, seemingly considering it a very capi 
 tal joke. 
 
 " By my ancestor, the great Ziogun !" he exclaimed ; " btit 
 the merry fellow shall be well cared for." 
 
 " He's not merry, your greatness," said the interpreter ; 
 ''he's dead drunk !" 
 
 " Not dead ?" 
 
 " No, he's alive ; but then he's speechlessly, helplessly in 
 toxicated." 
 
 " Ha, ha !" laughed the governor; "that's not his fault the 
 blame must rest on the sackee." 
 
 Making this reply, he turned to several of the servants, and 
 bade them convey the intoxicated stranger to a chamber, whert 
 the soft breezes would fan his brow, while lying under the in 
 fluence of too strong potations of sackee. 
 
 Again were Captain Harold and Paul Payson conducted into 
 the presence of the governor, though in another and more pri 
 vate apartment, to which only the interpreter and princess 
 were admitted on this occasion, except the servants kept in at 
 tendance to supply the party with tea and sweetmeats. 
 
 While the governor entered into conversation with Captain 
 Harold, through the interpreter, the lovely ad learned Prin 
 cess Titczing contrived to attract our young hero to another 
 part of the room, by a display of curiosities which she had pur 
 posely taken from a cabinet. These were principally rare and 
 beautiful shells, and rich and sparkling gems. Paul, desiring to 
 pass away the term of his imprisonment in the palace as lightly 
 and agreeably as possible, yielded readily to her wishes. Jn a 
 sweet, musical voice, the lady, to Paul's infinite surprise, ad 
 dressed him in pretty good English. 
 
 " Americans no speak Japanese ?" said she, inquiringly. 
 "You very much wonder hear Japan lady speak English?" 
 he added, with a look of pride. 
 
 " I do, indeed wonder," replied our hero, venturing to gaz*
 
 74 YANKEES IN JAPAN \ OR, 
 
 into hei animated countenance, " considering the slight inter 
 course your country has with the nations of the world." 
 
 " Ah, me study books me very much like to read English," 
 said she, as she opened a small book-case, and produced a copy 
 of Johnson's Dictionary, Murray's Grammar, miniature editions 
 of Shakspeare, Byron and Moore, and almost a complete set 
 of the Waverley novels. 
 
 " And have you gained a knowledge of English from these 
 books ?" asked the astonished youth. 
 
 " Yes ; me have no teacher no speak with any one before 
 in English, except Mynheer Vanhoffer, the interpreter," was 
 her reply. 
 
 In answer to the question which was her favorite author, she 
 unhesitatingly replied, the author of Lalla Rookh. She then 
 commented freely upon the various productions she had read ; 
 she praised the Talisman, Heart of Midlothian, and the Lady 
 of the Lake, but was severe in her denunciations of Don Juan. 
 Shakspeare's Merry Wives of Windsor, she laughed at ; Romeo 
 and Juliet she praised ; but the Loves of Venus, she despised. 
 
 Truly, thought our hero, Japan produces blue-stockings as 
 well as Europe or America; this fascinating creature was 
 either endeavoring to show off her literary attainments, or she 
 was striving to make herself agreeable to the strange guest. 
 
 She then took up, one by one, the rarest shells of the beauti 
 ful collection, and made observations upon each, really evin 
 cing a taste and some knowledge of chonchology. 
 
 Closing her cabinet she said, 
 
 " Me suppose Americans love flowers ?" 
 
 " Yes," was the youth's reply. 
 
 " Me show you many, very many in the garden ; but no," 
 she hesitated ; " me see ;" and running towards her father, 
 she asked, as our Hero supposed, his permission to that effect. 
 
 She returned and said, 
 
 u Me show you go with me." 
 
 She led him from the room to the verandah, where a mag 
 nificent sight burst upon his vision. Beneath him were the 
 beautiful gardens of the palace, brilliantly illuminated with rose, 
 orange, violet, and many other colored lights. Descending a 
 flight of steps, leading from the verandah, she led him into a 
 vast conservatory filled with flowering shrubs and plants of 
 every valuable description known to the botanist. This was 
 also brilliantly lighted, and the atmosphere was redolent with a 
 thousand perfumes. 
 
 Titczing plucked the most beautiful rose she could find, and 
 turning to our hero, remarked
 
 THE KOMANTIC ADVENTURES OP A SAILOR BOY. 75 
 
 " Me give you this on one condition tell me your name." 
 
 "Most certainly," he replied ; ''my name is Paul." 
 
 " Me give you the rose," she said, placing it in his hand ; 
 "me call you Paul you call me Titczing;" and she gave the 
 youth such a sweet look from her lustrous, love-beaming eyes, 
 that caused Paul to blush, and his lips quivered with apprehen 
 sion, lest she should next attempt to kiss hirn ! 
 
 Our hero was really a bashful youth, notwithstanding the fact 
 of our having seen him kiss Sylvia Sea bury, on a certain oc 
 casion ; and we are not altogether positive he would not have 
 been pleased to be saluted by the pretty, cherry- red lips of 
 Titczing had not that flowery paradise been illuminated. 
 
 For an hour or more they wandered amid these fairy-like 
 scenes. Paul was charmed with everything he beheld ; and 
 his lovely companion seemed charmed only with him. 
 
 At length they were summoned to return to the private apart 
 ment of the governor. The interview being over, Paul was 
 informed by Captain Harold, that it was the governor's inten 
 tion of sending them to the Koboe's (Emperor's) court, in the 
 great city of Jeddo, to leave Nagasaki in a palanquin on the 
 following morning. 
 
 Paul offered no objection to the governor's intention ; indeed, 
 he was quite as willing to go to Jeddo as to remain at Naga 
 saki. Titczing, however, very much preferred that the youth 
 ful stranger should remain in her father's palace ; and no sooner 
 had the captain arid Paul retired to the apartments assigned 
 them, than she undertook to dissuade the governor from his 
 purpose. 
 
 " Dear father," said she, speaking in her native tongue; "is 
 it true that you have determined to send these interesting 
 strangers to the court of the great Ziogun." 
 
 " Truly, my darling Titczing," replied her father, "I have so 
 determined; 'and wisely, too, for by the golden crane, 1 shall 
 expect new honors thereby." 
 
 "And, to-morrow, must they take their departure?" she 
 asked. 
 
 " Aye ; truly do they depart on the first gleaming of the sun 
 above the mountains, attended by a splendid retinue, which 
 must exalt us in the eyes of these intelligent strangers, who will 
 carry accounts of our greatness to that brave nation of which 
 we have heard so much of late." 
 
 " Father, I tremble lest the great Ziogun be angry with thee 
 for sending these strangers to him." 
 
 "Nay, my daughter ; his imperial majesty has signified his 
 desire to see such Americans as the gods may decree to be sent
 
 76 YANKEES IN JAPAN J OR, 
 
 to our shores. Rather, child, might I tremble did I not send 
 this intelligent captain to his court." 
 
 " Then you will not send his young companion ?" said Titc- 
 eing. 
 
 " Aye, my child, T had so purposed." 
 
 " The Ziogun will be satisfied with the captain and his singu 
 lar companion ; let the youth remain at our palace," ventured 
 Titczing, gazing upon the floor. 
 
 " By the green dragon ! I begin to suspect, you love this 
 youth !" 
 
 " Nay, father." 
 
 "I believe you. Titczing cannot lie! You have some good 
 motive for this request ?" said he, gazing intently into her ingen 
 uous countenance. 
 
 " Aye ; truly have I." 
 
 l< Speak, daughter, that I may say the young stranger shall 
 yet tarry at our palace." 
 
 "1 find this stranger well versed in English literature; you 
 know that I am already famed as a linguist ; I would be more 
 worthy of that name ; let the youth remain, that I may make 
 myself mistress of his language." 
 
 "Titczing, your mot^e is a noble one," said the governor, 
 embracing his child ; " and the youth may remain." 
 
 " Thanks, thanks, my kind father," said Titczing, kissing his 
 cheek; ''your daughter can never forget your kindness, nor 
 will she do anything that becometh not a maiden and a prin 
 cess." 
 
 O, Titczing ! Titczing ! what a weak, silly mortal thou art ! 
 notwithstanding all thy boasted acquirements and virtues. 
 Hadst thou one cell in thy brain, uncontrolled by that loving 
 heart of thine, thou wouldst see how grossly thou wast deriv 
 ing thyself! Beware, Titczing! lest the youthful teacher *hou 
 hast chosen teach thee more of Cupid's art than the lanpuage 
 thou lovest so well ! 
 
 Had his excellency thus cautioned his beloved daughter ere 
 they parted for the night, he would, perhaps, have done wsely. 
 But we shall see. 
 
 Titczing dreamed of the handsome young American that 
 night; and Paul dreamed of one afar off so far, indeed that 
 oceans and seas, and islands, and a vast continent sep#~ated 
 them!
 
 THE ROMANTIC ADVENTURES OF A SAILOR BOY. 77 
 
 CHAPTER VII. 
 
 Arrival of Prince Kublai-Keki His Errand TJie Pi meet* 
 not to be won Rage of the great rejected A conspiracy. 
 
 GALA days are said to be more frequent in Japan than in any 
 country, either civilized or barbarian, on the face of the earth. 
 Besides the stated religious and secular holidays, the Japanese 
 never allow any extraordinary event to occur without making 
 it in some manner a matter of public demonstration and dis 
 play. Hence, the arrival of the King Philip was made a sub 
 ject of general interest to the Nagasaiians ; and now that it 
 was known throughout the city, that tflreir governor, Toki-tak;, 
 would send the American prisoners, as they were called, with a 
 splendid escort, to the Ziogun's court at the imperial metropo 
 lis of Jeddo, on the following day, it was, of course, an event 
 not to be passed by without being noticed by the industrious 
 but pleasure-loving people. Accordingly, at an early hour, the 
 streets contiguous to the palace were thronged with thousands 
 and tens of thousands of men and boys, while from verandahs, 
 casements and house-tops, were to be seen the ladies, attired in 
 their most showy and costly robes. 
 
 At nine o'clock, the governor's grand band of horns, gongs, 
 bells and cymbals, announced the coming of the pageant from 
 the palace grounds. A squadron of cavalry led the van ; each 
 cavalier carrying two swords, and wearing petticoat trousers; 
 none beneath the regular soldiery being permitted thus to be 
 doubly armed and petticoat-breeched. After these came the 
 persons composing an official embassy to the Ziogun ; then 
 came a magnificently decorated palankeen, borne on the shoul 
 ders of eight men of stalwart proportion, in which were seated 
 our friends, Captain Harold and Zabdiel Stubbs, the latter hav 
 ing recovered from the effects of the sackee which he had drunk 
 on the previous afternoon. 
 
 But, leaving this singular cortege to pursue its slow way to 
 wards the mightly metropolis of Niphon, we must turn the 
 reader's attention to another event of the same day, which crea-
 
 78 YANKEES IN JAPAN ', OR, 
 
 ted additional excitement in Nagasaki. This was no less than 
 the arrival of Kublai-Keki, a powerful vassal prince, attended 
 by a numerous retinue, for the purpose of demanding in mar 
 riage, the hand ol Titczing-Toki-taka, the learned and lovely 
 daughter of Kiooisoo's noble governor. 
 
 Keki was the nineteenth prince who had come to Nagasaki 
 upon the same errand, but all his illustrious predecessors Titc- 
 zing had rejected, and each rejection had received her sire's 
 approval. The new suitor, though a vassal prince, was the lord 
 of a vast territory, and could summon to the service of the em 
 peror, forty thousand soldiers, whenever an emergency demand 
 ed a levy of troops. 
 
 Prince Kublai was, therefore, the most powerful suitor that 
 Titczing had ever been honored with ; and, indeed, he came to 
 Nagasaki fully determined to carry his point, whether by fair 
 or by foul means, trusting to his power to conciliate the empe 
 ror, should the governor prefer any complaint against him, in 
 case he should find it necessary to resort to force to accomplish 
 his unconquerable desires. 
 
 Passing over the homage paid to the potent prince by the 
 multitude in the streets, at the palace Kublai was received with 
 ull the display and fomnality due his high rank. Once in the 
 oalace, his impetuosity to obtain the lovely prize did not allow 
 nim to wait for an introduction to Titczing, ere he made known 
 the object of his mission to her father, and formally demanded 
 her hand. His excellency coolly informed him that he had 
 only to gain Titczing's consent, and then the day and the hour 
 of the nuptials should be appointed. 
 
 After the usual mid- day banquet was partaken of, the lovely 
 princess, attended by her virgins, was ushered into the recep 
 tion room, where her powerful suitor and his select attendants, 
 magnificently appareled, and blazing with gold and lustrous 
 gems, awaited her appearance. Titczing was attired in a robe 
 becoming her rank, and although not looking so beautifully as 
 we have seen her on a less important occasion, yet her peerless 
 loveliness failed not to carry Captive the heart of Kublai-Khan. 
 
 " By the immaculate Ten-sio-dai-sin !" (Sun Goddess,) ex 
 claimed the mighty prince, addressing one of- his near atten 
 dants, on beholding Titczing; "our eyes ne'er beheld such 
 beauty. Report hath described her appearance but imperfect 
 ly. Oh, happy, happy prince am I ! that she hath rejected 
 eighteen princes who hath come before me !" 
 
 "Most illustrious Kublai, thou mayst be the nineteenth/' 
 suggested Kin-zin-kon-jei, his secular adviser, or prime minister 
 
 " By the fire-dragon of Fudsi-Jammi !" said the prince
 
 THE ROMANTIC ADVENTURES OF A SAILOR BOY. 79 
 
 'didst ever know Kublai-Keki to be thwarted in a purpose 
 earnestly avowed ?" 
 
 " Nay, most illustrious." 
 
 " Did we not avow it in thy presence, that this most-famed 
 beauty of the empire, should grace our cortege on our return 
 to Simonoseki ?" 
 
 " Truly, didst thou, great prince ; but yet she may refuse 
 thee, as she has done thy princely predecessors. Her will, in 
 the bestowal of her hand, is the will of her illustrious sire." 
 
 " And OUR will, Kin-zin-kon-jei, is, that she shall be Kublai- 
 Keki's bride !" said the prince with emphasis ; " and by the host 
 of demons in GOKUYA ! (hell,) there is not power sufficient in 
 all Kioosoo, to thwart the purpose nearest Kublai's heart.'' 
 
 " Behold, great prince, the governor approaches, to lead you 
 to the beauteous light of his palace!" said Kin-zin-kon-jel 
 
 " That light which shall soon illumine mine," added Kublai, 
 in a subdued tone. 
 
 "My daughter, the princess Titczing, is in waiting to be 
 honored with an introduction to so illustrious a prince," said 
 the governor. 
 
 " We're impatient for the happy moment, your excellency," 
 said Kublai, taking the proffered hand of his illustrious father-in- 
 law, as the prince determined he should become. 
 
 With an air of overweening dignity, the confident prince 
 approached Titczing, who was seated upon a Hais, and was in 
 troduced. She rose not on his approach, and one glance from 
 her expressive eyes, completely changed his arrogant demeanor 
 to one of comparative humility. He fell upon his knees before 
 her, and said, 
 
 " Beautiful and immaculate princess ! behold at thy feet one 
 who ne'er knelt before mortal, until now, save to the mighty 
 Ziogun! One who is more potent than any vassal prince of 
 the empire, is here to solicit thy hand in honorable marriage ; 
 one who afar off hath heard of thy matchless beauty, thy wis 
 dom and learning, and thy spotless purity ; but who never, un 
 til now, dared even imagine th'at so perfect a being dwelt in 
 our land. Speak, peerless princess, and make happy the heart 
 of Kublai-Keki !" 
 
 " Rise, Prince !" said Titczing, modestly, " thou hast learned 
 well the flatterer's art. At this hour, to-morrow, my decision 
 in regard to the high honor you intend me, shall be made known 
 to thee. If in thee, my lord, I find that noble quality, which I 
 have failed to discover in eighteen princely suitors for my hand, 
 then I shall bestow on thee what I refused to them." 
 
 " And what is that great virtue essential to complete my hap 
 piness, charming princess ?" asked Kublai.
 
 80 YANKEES IN JAPAN ; OR, 
 
 "Ah! thou wilt assume it if thou hast it not, should I re- 
 veal it," said Titczing, archly. " If I do not prove to thee on 
 the morrow that thou art deficient in the indispensable quality, 
 then, by the purity of Ten-sio-dai-sin, this hand shall be thine. 
 Till then, the gods be with thee." 
 
 Uttering these words, the princess and her attendants with 
 drew. 
 
 Kublai-Keki was exceedingly puzzled. He called Kin-sin- 
 jon-jei, with the hope of obtaining through him the key to this 
 little mystery, and told him all that the lady had said. 
 
 "Great prince!" said his adviser, who ever spoke boldly and 
 frankly ; *' thou hast many faults and but few virtues. This I 
 have told thee often." 
 
 " Thou hast, indeed ; and we have as often pardoned thy in 
 solent tongue. We cannot brook such plain speech longer." 
 
 *' So long as Kin-zin-kon-jei is thy adviser, thou wilt hear 
 nought but trijth from his lips." 
 
 " Thou provokest me !" said the prince, in anger. 
 
 " He that cannot bear to hear the truth spoken, hat'i lack <5f 
 many virtues !" 
 
 " Now, by the fiery dragon ! thou addest insult to injury!" 
 
 "Call it what thou wilt, mighty prir.ce ; but when thou. ait 
 not in choler, thou'lt thank me for my frankness." 
 
 " Dost say Kublai is now in choler ?" 
 
 " Never did the mountain tiger seemed more enraged !" 
 
 " And never did the ferocious beast more readily revenge a 
 wrong, than doth Kublai Keki !" exclaimed the choleric man, 
 drawing a keen Japanese blade, and with one blow he struck 
 off the head of Kin-zin-kon-jei! 
 
 " Remove this bloody carcass from my sight !" said he, to hie 
 vassals; "the presumptive knave hath no more than his just 
 deserts." 
 
 Death, by the hands of a prince, is of so frequent occurrence 
 in this strangely governed country, that it is hardly held as a 
 crime ; indeed, inferiors regard it as an honor to be thus de 
 prived of life ; besides, it saves them from ripping their own 
 bowels open, (the only mode of committing suicide in Japan,) 
 which they Jeel themselves in honor bound to do whenever held 
 in disgrace by their superiors. Had a subject committed the 
 great crime of murder, the severest penalty of the law would 
 have been inflicted upon him. 
 
 The death of Kin-zin-kon-jei, was, therefore, an event of lit 
 tle or no moment, and in an hour or two, ceased to be a sub 
 ject of conversation or regret, even among the followers of the 
 prince.
 
 THE ROMANTIC ADVENTURES OF A SAILOR BOY. 81 
 
 Twenty-four hours, precisely, subsequent to the first meeting 
 of the Prince Kublai-Keki and the Princess Titczmg-Toki-laka, 
 they again met in presence of the governor's and prince's re 
 tainers, to hear the decision of the immaculate virgin of Na 
 gasaki. 
 
 " Mighty prince !" said Titczing, " where is Kin-zin-kon-kie, 
 thy truthful adviser?" 
 
 " With this sword we slew him," answered Kublai-Keki. 
 
 " Why didst thou take his lite ?'' 
 
 " He provoked me to anger ?" 
 
 " But thou shouldst have suppressed it." 
 
 " Charming princess, 'tis not in Kublai's nature." 
 
 "Then Kublai, who governs a host v cannot govern himself. 
 This noble quality thou lackest, according to thine own confes 
 sion. Go thy way, Prince Titczing declines the great honor 
 you would confer upon her !" 
 
 The prince's eyes flashed fire, and his lips quivered with 
 rage, while his attendants marvelled that their mighty lord should 
 be rejected. Kublai strove to conceal the passion which fired 
 his very soul, and af length essayed to speak. 
 
 For so slight an imperfection dost thou scorn the most pow 
 erful vassal lord of the empire ?" 
 
 " Ay . if thou wert the mighty Ziogun himself, thou coulds? 
 have no otner answer," said the princess. " That which thou 
 regardest lightly, however, weighs heavily in my eyes. Be 
 sides the lack of the self-governing principle, thou lackest mer 
 cy ; the life of him thou hast slain wast as dear to him as thine 
 is to thee." 
 
 But he died by my princely arm ; in that he was honored." 
 
 *' Fy on such philosophy !" returned Titczing. " Is the fox 
 less dead, killed by the treacherous leopard, than by the kingly 
 lion ? Go thy way, prince ; learn wisdom, then thou'lt be just 
 and merciful !" 
 
 The princess hereupon rose, saluted Kublai-Keki, and retired 
 with her attendants. 
 
 The rage of the prince knew no bounds, and he meditated 
 all sorts of revenge for the rebuke which he had received from 
 a woman. That night, in a secluded part of the palace gar 
 den, he met some three or four of his most trusty attendants, 
 and there concocted the villanous plan of abusing the hospital 
 ity of the governor, by stealing his daughter while slumbering, 
 and conveying her away. It was agreed that it should be car 
 ried into execution one hour past midnight, and they immedi 
 ately set about devising the best means for effecting their pur 
 pose, without immediate discovery and consequent pursuit. 
 
 6
 
 08 YANKEES IN JAPAN J O, 
 
 The vile plot was partially discovered to one not concerned 
 in it. Paul Payson, suspecting evil designs, had watched the 
 conspirators, and although he could judge of what they intend 
 ed only by their menacing manner of speaking and violent ges 
 tures, yet he forthwith set his w ts at work to frustrate the per 
 petration of any villany.
 
 THE ROMANTIC ADVENTURES OF A SAILOR BOY. 
 
 CHAPTER VIII. 
 
 The Abduction The Pursuit The Rescue Death of tke 
 Tiger Paul in a Dilemma The Villain, Kublai, exposed! 
 Wonders will never cease. 
 
 THE Princess Titzcing, not dreaming that any danger 
 threatened her, had already retired for repose, consequently our 
 hero, Paul, had no means of communicating with her ; her 
 father, too, had retired for the night, and as that part of the 
 palace, where the governor's family slept, was strictly guarded 
 irom intrusion, there was no possibility of gaining access to it, 
 unless by corrupting the sentinels or overpowering them. 
 
 The former means had already been resorted to by a pam 
 pered underling of Kublai-Keki ; he had sounded each one of 
 them by the tempting offer of a purse of gold, without in any 
 manner revealing the plot ; but the bnoe was spurned by them 
 all ; too well the soldiers loved the brave and magnanimous 
 Toki-taka, and they would rather have died in his cause than 
 betray him. 
 
 Force being the only alternative to gain access to the loving 
 Titczing's apartment. Kublai selected from among his followers, 
 ten of the most unscrupulous villains known in his principality. 
 These were directed to butcher the sentinels, enter the Prin 
 cess's apartment and secure the lovely prize, while some half 
 dozen more, with horses ready saddled and bridled, should re 
 main in waiting to receive the precious burden, near the outer 
 gate of the palace grounds. As it was previously given out 
 that Kublai would despatch a courier to Simoneseki that night, 
 of course in these latter preparations nothing of a treacherous 
 or hostile character was suspected. 
 
 The night was quite dark, and the lamps of the palace gar 
 dens having been extinguished, the party of assassins were en 
 abled to approach quite near the sentinels, and conceal them 
 selves until the concerted signal, when each man was to select 
 his victim, pounce upon him, and at once despatch him. 
 
 Paul, of course, could know nothing of the -details of the
 
 34 YANKEES IN JAPAN J OR, 
 
 business to be accomplished ; but, having a Yankee's shrewd 
 ness, and a keen pair of eyes to watch the movements of the 
 conspirators, he could " guess" their intentions pretty correctly. 
 He saw that they bore no fire-arms, but, instead, were armed 
 with heavy scimetars, whose keen edges he knew would sever 
 the head from the trunk at a blow. Hence he inferred that 
 they meant to do their murderous work without ci-eating an 
 alarm: But he resolved, if possible, that an alarm should be given, 
 a-nd at the moment when his desperate intentions might be of 
 most avail. Gladly would he have put the sentinels on guard 
 against the suspected outrages meditated, but he could speak 
 scarcely a word of the Japanese language, and well he knew 
 if he attempted to approach the sentinels, he would but endan 
 ger his own life. Therefore, he deemed it wise to act only as 
 emergencies arose, and hope for a favorable result. 
 
 By the movements of the assassins, which he was just able 
 to discern from a concealed position that he had chosen, he sup 
 posed that the critical moment was near at hand. All was still 
 throughout the palace gardens, save the sweet, warbling notes 
 of the nightingales in the governor's aviary, and the soft rust 
 ling of the breeze which blew gently from the harbor. A single, 
 tinkling note from the clock of the temple just beyond the 
 palace walls, announced the hour of one. A lapse of five 
 minutes, and a blazing rocket streamed across the city, so bril 
 liant, that for a moment it illuminated the spires of the temples 
 in its path; and while the sentries upon duty turned to gaze 
 upon it, the desperadoes of Kublai-Keki rushed upon them with 
 naked sabres, and commenced the brutal massacre ! The sharp 
 crack of a pistol, from an unknown source, startled the ruffians, 
 ad one of them fell beside the headless trunk of him he had 
 just decapitated ! The poor sentinel was thus most summarily 
 avenged ! Another, and another, and a third shot was fired, in 
 quick succession, and apparently from different sources, and at 
 each fire an assassin fell ! 
 
 The alarm first reached Kublai's ears, and he ordered a score 
 or more to the assistance of their comrades ; but ere they ar 
 rived, the whole palace was in a state of most indescribable 
 confusion ; and what most added to the consternation was, 
 that none within knew the cause. 
 
 Some of the prince's myrmidons had gained entrance to the 
 private apartments of the palace, and, in despite of the scream 
 ing of women, and the opposition of the governor's soldiers, 
 who came , to the rescue of their noble master, they seized 
 the Princess Titczing, and bore her from her apartment into 
 the palace grounds, before the true intent of the villains was 
 discovered
 
 THE ROMANTIC ADVENTURES OF A SAILOR BOY. 85 
 
 The old Governor rushed forth in his 'night clothes, be 
 wailing the loss of his daughter, and offering immense rewards 
 to those who would rescue her from the villains! He or 
 dered out his troop of cavalry, but ere the horses could be 
 saddled and bridled, and the men mounted, Titczing was in 
 the hands of a stout cavalier, mounted upon a fleet charger, 
 and escorted by three other horsemen, galloping away as fast as 
 possible from the city of Nagasaki! 
 
 As soon as the governor's troops were despatched, a coun 
 cil of his attendants were immediately called ; and no sooner 
 were they assembled, than Prince Kublai, himself, rushed un 
 ceremoniously into their presence, and with looks of apprehen 
 sion, and almost breathless speech, thus addressed the man 
 whom he had so foully wronged, while a guest beneath his 
 roof: 
 
 "Is it true, your excellency, that the beauteous flower of 
 thy palace hath been stolen from thee?" 
 
 " Ay, great Prince ; 'tis too true," answered Tokirtaka, with 
 a sigh. " The light of my life, my sweet blossom, the pearl of 
 my palace, is no longer here to make blessed my heart." 
 
 " Kublai-Keki condoles with thee,, from the depths of his 
 soul ; and never shall he be at rest until the great wrong be 
 avenged ! Already are his cavaliers flying with the speed of 
 the wind in pursuit of the daring robbers." 
 
 " Thanks, prince, for thy condolence, and for thy assistance," 
 said the bereaved father, who entertained not a suspicion that 
 the famed Kublai-Keki was the cause of his present misery. 
 " Shouldst thy cavaliers, prince, have the good fortune to res 
 cue my darling Titczing, it may be that her grateful heart will 
 reverse her decision of yesterday, and confide ever after in 
 thee." 
 
 "Oh, joy! oh, happiness!" exclaimed the princely villain; 
 "we shall make large offerings to the god& for their success, 
 ere the sun again illumines our empire. Does not thou, excel 
 lency, suspect those who have thus dared to commit this mon 
 strous offence?" 
 
 " Nay, my lord." 
 
 " By the dragon of Fudsi Jamma ! a suspicion flashes upon 
 our mind !" 
 
 " Speak, great prince ?" 
 
 " Thou hast, I am told, entertained a stranger from a fa:-off 
 country, in thy palace ?" 
 
 " Ay, truly." 
 
 " And hast permitted him tc have audience of the princess ?" 
 
 " Thou hast heard aright ; but, great Kublai, he's a youth, 
 and harmless as Titczing herself; besides, the wretch who hath
 
 86 YANKEES IX JAPAN J OR, 
 
 t 
 
 stolen the light of mine eyes, hath confederates. This strar> 
 boy can have none, for he cannot speak even a word of the 
 wonderful language which the gods have decreed to our favored 
 people. No, Kublai, he hath no hand in this matter." 
 
 " Thou'rt rich in wisdom, but thine eyes are blinded," sair 
 the prince. " This youth is one of that race of people in North 
 America, of whom we have heard so much of late. They have 
 cunning surpassing all the nations of the earth ; from gokuya's 
 (hell's) ministers they have learned the art of making fire-boats 
 which travel over the seas faster than the mighty serpent of 
 the Corean Archipelago : they have carriages, too, that are 
 drawn over the earth by enormous fire-dragons, whose hisses 
 and screams are heard many leagues, and whose speed are 
 swifter than the condor's fligl t. They catch the lightning's 
 flash, and make it subservient to their will ; ay, even on its 
 wings do they communicate one to another, though an hundred 
 t leagues apart. They fly in the air ; walk down under the sea ; 
 and extinguish fire without water. They make tunnels through 
 mountains, and under rivers and cities ; level the hills with the 
 plains, and spam wire bridges over mighty cataracts. They 
 have discovered a medicine, far more potent than the blessed 
 DOSIA powders our gods have bestowed upon us ; this medicine 
 is breathed into the nostrils, and the most violent pain ceases. 
 In truth, excellency, they are wonderful and a wicked people, 
 for, instead of receiving their arts from the gods as we do, they 
 borrow them from the fiends of gokuya ! Much more could 
 Kublai tell thee of this nation of jugglers, but he hath said 
 enough to show that much is to be feared even from the youth 
 thou harborest in thy palace." 
 
 " Great Kublai," said the governor ; " I know all thou hast 
 told me, and much more. Through my daughter, who hath 
 acquired the language of this people, I know that all their dis 
 coveries are based upon the true scientific principles. It is to 
 the cunning of their intellects that they owe the discovery of 
 these wonderful things; and not by invoking gokuya's demons. 
 But. prince, I have no heart to speak of this people or their arts 
 now ; at a future time I will converse with thee further upon 
 this topic." 
 
 " But let us beseech thee to bring the boy American before 
 this counsel, that he may be questioned ; and if thou findest 
 that he hath not taken a part in the abduction of the princess, 
 then is Kublai-Keki no prophet !" 
 
 * But, prince, now that Titczing is gone, we cannot commu 
 nicate with him," replied Toki-Taka ; " when morning breaki 
 I can send to the Dutch islet, for the European interpreter."
 
 THE ROMANTIC ADVENTURES OF A SAILOR BOY. 87 
 
 "There is no time to be lost," said the prince ; "let him be 
 brought before thee ; his very looks may betray his guilt." 
 
 The governor at length yielded to Kublai's persuasions, and 
 a couple of servants were sent to the apartment occupied by 
 oar hero, Paul, to summon him to the chief hall of the palace. 
 
 A few minutes elapsed, and the servants returned with the 
 startling information that he was not to be found. 
 
 " He's escaped !" cried Kublai. " Dost not this act fasten 
 suspicion upon him ?" 
 
 The governor was thunderstruck. 
 
 " By the demon of Sulphur Island! I'll send all the Tartarean 
 hosts after him !" he cried, his grief giving way to anger. " A 
 thousand bars of gold to him who will apprehend him and prove 
 his guilt ! Ah ! now do I see my imprudence in allowing the 
 princess to converse with the American ; and I do begin to 
 suspect that with his arts he hath fascinated my daughter, and 
 that she hath consented to be stolen away. Send a thousand 
 armed barges to the strange ship anchored near Papenberg ' 
 let her be boarded and searched !" 
 
 This order was hastily despatched to the commander of the 
 harbor flotilla, who, by the break of day, was moving down the 
 harbor for the purpose of boarding the harmless old whaler, the 
 King Philip ! 
 
 Meanwhile these proceedings, from the time of the abduc 
 tion to the moving of the flotilla, were transpiring, let us look 
 after Paul Payson, and see what part he is playing in this noc 
 turnal drama in Japan. 
 
 Paul, on perceiving that the first detachment of desperadoes 
 were to be backed up by an indefinite number, he quitted his 
 place of concealment, where he had been flitting like an ignis- 
 fatuus, from one clump of bushes to another, discharging his 
 deadly revolver at the ruffians. He had accomplished one of 
 his purposes, that of alarming the household, which he supposed 
 must be the means of defeating the end and aim of the Prince 
 Kublai ; but in this he was mistaken, for he had no sooner 
 emerged from his hiding-place, and crossed the main path to 
 enter the palace, than he heard the stifled shrieks of a female, 
 and in a moment more he beheld two of the ruffians, one of 
 whom bore in his arms, as Paul supposed, the princess, in whose 
 defence he resolved to risk his life. He followed after them 
 with all the haste he could make, without being discovered, 
 until they stopped near the outer wall, where stood a noble 
 charger, richly caparisoned. Under the shade of a cypress 
 tree he was enabled to perceive that one of the abductors was 
 partially clad in armor, and wore by his side a sabre ; he saw 
 him mount the steed, while the other, who bore the princess
 
 88 YANKEES. IN JAPAN \ OR, 
 
 forced her into the mail-clad cavalier's arms. A single note 
 from a signal horn was now sounded, and three other cavaliers 
 rejoined the one with the lady, and they all galloped out of the 
 outer gate of the palace, which had been purposely opened fe>r 
 their egress, by one of Kublai's party. 
 
 As soon as they had rode away, he who had borne Titczing 
 from the palace, hastened towards an angle of the wall, where 
 a fleet horse was standing. He leaped into the saddle, and was 
 galloping: on to overtake his comrades, when Paul suddenly 
 darted into his path, seized the bridle, and discharged his 
 never-failing revolver at the head of the rider ! He reeled in 
 his saddle, and fell to the earth ! In another moment, Paul 
 had mounted the high-mettled steed, and started off in full 
 speed on the track of the abductors ! 
 
 For nearly an hour did the pursued party dash on at full 
 speed ; but coming to a deep ravine, in a wild spot, they 
 slackened their pace, in order to give their panting steeds an 
 opportunity to breathe freely, and to allow their supposed com 
 rade, whose horse's feet they distinctly heard, to come up with 
 them. Paul reached the brow of the hill, and beheld the party 
 He was in pursuit of at the bottom of the ravine, where a 
 stream of water flowed across the road. He drew his rein, and 
 permitted the horse to walk leisurely down the hill, in order 
 that he might scrutinize them, and deliberate as to the best 
 mode of making his attack. It was a desperate resolve he had 
 made, to rescue the princess or die in the attempt ! and now he 
 felt, for the first time, how great were the odds against him ! 
 
 He saw that the cavalier, who bore the princess on his saddle, 
 was a few paces in advance, while his three companions in the 
 rear rode in a line. Paul rode up behind within eight or ten 
 paces, when one of them turned and accosted him in a tone of 
 familiarity. 
 
 Crack ! went the pistol, and he who had spoken, quickly bit 
 the dust ! 
 
 " Treason ! treason !" cried his startled companions, who in 
 stantly turned upon him, and who, until now, they thought to 
 be Foukieymun, one of the boldest of the prince's assassins. 
 
 Another flash and sharp report from the revolver, caused a 
 second to fall. The third had time to draw his scimetar, and 
 spur his steed towards the unknown, the effects of whose deadly 
 weapon, he had before witnessed that night. The cavalier 
 raised his arm to strike off the head of this boy, man or devil 
 which he knew not! Crack! crack! went a pair of the 
 barrels, and he, too, was laid low in the dust ! 
 
 Perceiving that his comrades had fallen, almost unaccount 
 ably, the stout cavalier, who held the princess in his saddle.
 
 THE ROMANTIC ADVENTURES OF \ SAILJR BOY. 89 
 
 Gtruck his rowels deep into the flanks of his horse, and galloped 
 off at full speed; but the deadly pursuer was after him. The 
 chase continued for upwards of a mile ; when the horse of the 
 cavalier began to slacken his pace, for without the princess, 
 tiie animal would have been sufficiently burdened. Finding 
 escape impossible, the cavalier turned upon his pursuer, and 
 drew his long, keen-edged sabre, with the almost forlorn hope 
 of annihilating so formidable a foe. 
 
 Paul rushed up boldly, and seized the bridle rein of the des 
 perado with his left hand, while in the right he held firmly his 
 trusty weapon ; and as the sabre's blow was about v o fall upon 
 him, he discharged the revolver full in the face of his antag 
 onist. The cavalier fell heavily to the earth, bearing with him 
 (.he now unconscious Titczing. 
 
 Paul lifted her from out the foul arms of the dying cavalier, 
 and by tasking -all his strength, he succeeded in placing the 
 princess upon the steed he had himself ridden, and vaulting into 
 the saddle himself, he began slowly to retrace his steps, leading 
 the dead cavalier's horse by the bridle. In the course of half 
 an hour he reached the ravine, when, hearing the tramp of 
 many steeds in the distance, he left the road and entered a 
 thick grove of cypress trees, and alighted, with his beautiful 
 burden, beside the pellucid brook. Titczing had partially re 
 covered from the swoon into which she had been thrown by 
 fear and fatigue, still she was unconscious, and too feeble to sit 
 or stand. He laid her down upon the soft mossy bank, and 
 with his hands he laved her temples with the cool water from 
 the stream. He then cut a strip of bark from a sapling cypress, 
 and fashioned it into a cup, and filling it with water, he gently 
 raised the fair one's head, arid poured a few drops of the revivi 
 fying element between her lips. 
 
 While performing this kind office, the troop of horsem* n was 
 descending into the ravine, and the neighing of their steeds, 
 caused his jaded animals to prick up their ears, and lest they 
 should gallop away, Paul leaped to his feet, caught them by the 
 bridle, and secured them to the limbs of a tree. 
 
 It was now day-break, and objects could be discerned even 
 in that deeply-shaded ravine. Leaving his precious charge, 
 he crept cautiously towards the road, for the purpose of scruti 
 nizing closely the troop, and concealed himself behind the thick 
 foliage which bordered the pass. As soon as the van of the 
 troop had arrived at the scene of Paul's desperate conflict, the 
 column halted, "and dismounted, they having discovered the 
 three dead cavaliers. When they found they were their own 
 companions, volleys of oaths and imprecations fell from their 
 lips. Exhausting the Japanese vocabulary of profanity, they
 
 90 YANKEES IN JAPAN J OR, 
 
 set up r mournful howl, compared to which the war-whoop of 
 the American aboriginals would have been pleasant to the ears 
 of our hero. The dead bodies were then taken up and lashed 
 across the backs of horses, the cavaliers -mounting before. 
 The troop then mov >d on, and after the lapse ol fifteen minutes, 
 the neighing of horses and their heavy tramp, could no longer 
 be heard by Paul, who had returned to his charge, and suc 
 ceeded in restoring her to a partial state of consciousness. Her 
 first exclamations were in her own language ; but looking 
 steadily for a few moments into her preserver's face, she smiled 
 sweetly, and essayed to sp^ak in English. She uttered a few 
 words of thankfulness, and soon fell into a profound slumber, 
 her head reclining on the breast of the heroic youth. 
 
 For four hours did }Nul watch over the maiden he had so 
 many times perilled his life to save. And while performing 
 this voluntary duty, he had time to recur to his eventful career, 
 since the moonlight night he stood beneath the shade of a grove 
 of oaks in his own native land, and by him stood a loved and 
 beautiful being of a far different race, to that of the fair crea 
 ture now sleeping, as if in perfect security, upon his bosom. In 
 his memory, he traced almost every step from that hour what 
 misery he had seen, what dangers he had passed, and con 
 trasted them with the novel and romantic situation he was then 
 placed in ; and while he endeavored to penetrate the veil of the 
 future, he was startled by a deep growl, which caused him to 
 leap to his feet. The maiden awoke at the same moment, 
 looking wildly about her as if in apprehension of impending 
 danger. The awful sound was heard again, and the maiden, 
 breathlessly shrieked 
 
 " The tig>r! the tiger!" 
 
 Paul's revolver was out in an instant. The animal, though 
 not yet visible, was evidently near. He advanced a few steps, 
 when he beheld the glaring eyes of the ferocious beast, within 
 r distance of eight yards, his body partially concealed by the 
 thick foliage. He crouched as if to make a spring. Paul fired, 
 and a hideous roar made the welkin ring. The beast was badly 
 wounded, the shot having entered the ball of the eye, and foi 
 a moment paralyzed him. Enraged to an inconceivable fury, 
 he leaped towards our hero, but ere the beast's body struck the 
 earth, another shot entered his head. The tiger came flounder 
 ing down upon his side ; but quickly regained his feet. Paul, 
 perceiving there was yet much danger in his antagonist, took 
 a deliberate aim, and the ball entered the remaining eye, thus 
 completely blinding him. The animal writhed and howled in 
 the agonies of death. One shot more and the formidable-look 
 ing monster was silenced, and lay stretched out before him !
 
 THE ROMANTIC ADVENTUHES OF A SAILOB. BOY. 91 
 
 " To horse !" said our hero to Titczing ; " we must away, lesl 
 there be more beasts to encounter !" 
 
 He assisted the trembling princes to mount one of the horses, 
 and then mounting the other, was ready to hasten on towards 
 Nagasaki, to turn the household of the governor from grief into 
 joy. Titczing touched his arm, and pointed towards the wild 
 beast he had slain, as if the idea occurred to her that he had 
 forgotten to take his game. 
 
 " 'Tis worth nothing," said he. 
 
 " Nothing !" she repeated, with manifest surprise ; " the hun 
 ter that kills the great tiger is made noble, princely, by the 
 Ziogun !" 
 
 " But I am a stranger ; and in a few days I must sail for mv 
 aative land ; therefore, princely honors will avail me nothing,"*' 
 answered Paul. 
 
 The princess's countenance underwent a slight change at 
 this sincere declaration of her preserver. 
 
 " Me sorry," said she, after a pause ; " but me advise you to 
 carry the tiger to rny father's palace much good will it do 
 you." 
 
 Finding that his companion was really serious in her advice, 
 he again dismounted, and lifting the body of the heavy beast 
 in his arms, he managed to place it across the horse's back just 
 behind the saddle, to which he lashed it. It was an awkward 
 looking load, but Titczing appearing much pleased, he thought 
 it best to humor what our hero considered exceedingly bad 
 taste that of riding into a thickly populated city, at mid-day, 
 with a dead tiger behind him, and a princess for a companion! 
 
 They proceeded on at a slow pace, and when within a mile 
 or two of Nagasaki, they began to meet squads of people, who 
 stared with wondering eyes at the unusual spectacle. The 
 avenue leading to the palace being the most frequented of any 
 in the city, Paul, wishing to avoid the public gaze as far as pos- 
 - sible, proposed to Titczing to take a less frequented route to 
 her home ; but for some reason or other, which he could not 
 comprehend, she very good-naturedly opposed the suggestion, 
 and they continued on and entered tfie populous avenue. Here 
 a busy and elegant scene presented itself to view. Thousands 
 of gaily dressedpeople were moving along on both sides of the 
 street ; the shops made rich and beautiful displays of goods ; 
 and hundreds of palankeens and sedan-chairs, containing noble 
 ladies, moved to and fro, completed the animated scene. It was, 
 in fact, the hour of fashionable promenade, and the hour during 
 which the tradesmen in costly goods made their profits. 
 
 Paul could not avoid thinking of the dead tiger on his crup 
 per, and he mentally avowed that he would rather run the
 
 02 YANKEES IN JAPAN J OR, 
 
 gauntlet of a bam:! of savages than thus to expose himself, not- 
 withstanding a favorite princess shared the supposed odium 
 with him. 
 
 But they were now fairly in the fashionable avenue, and tc 
 back out were as conspicuous as to go on. Paul turned towards 
 Titczing, expecting to see her cheeks tinged with crimson 
 blushes, because he observed that every body, even the urchins 
 in the street, stop, stare at her, and make a sign of recognition; 
 but, to his surprise, he saw that she now had assumed a dignity 
 he had never witnessed in her before, and sat the horse as 
 proudly as if she had been the empress, and her bashful com 
 panion, the emperor of the Japanese. 
 
 Presently, they met a magnificent palankeen, in which was 
 seated one of her father's high officials, who had heard of the 
 high-handed outrage at the palace on the night previous. The 
 instant he recognized her, he gave one loud shout, which Paul 
 construed as equivalent of "Long live the Princess Titczing!" 
 
 The cry, catching other ears, was repeated and passed along, 
 until the whole street from one end to the other, resounded with 
 the gratulations of the multitude. The tiger on Paul's crupper 
 being discovered, other shouts, unintelligible to him, (and fortu 
 nate they were so,) congratulatory to the " tiger-slayer," fell 
 upon the ears of the princess, which she acknowledged, for her 
 bashful "gallant, with her sweetest smiles. 
 
 The cry of the people had reached the palace, some minutes 
 in advance of Paul, Titczing and the Tiger the latter, in re 
 ality, although a corpse, attracting the most attention from the 
 masses. As soon as the joyful news that Titczing was coming 
 reached the governor's ears, he ordered the immediate parade 
 of a squadron of cavalry, expecting of course that she was 
 under the escort of a large detachment of either his own or 
 Prince Kublai's troops. The squadron of cavaliers were drawn 
 up in two lines, on either side of the avenue, leading from the 
 outer gate to the entrance or grand portico of the palace, under 
 which stood with uncovered heads, the Governor Toki-Taki, 
 Prince Kublai-Keki, and their near attendants, and the ladies 
 of the palace. 
 
 At length a trumpet blast announced that ^he princess had 
 passed the gate, and never was there more sincere joy expressed 
 than on this occasion. But this feeling was commingled with 
 wonder, when they beheld Titczing under the protection of a 
 single horseman, and he the young foreigner who was supposed 
 to have had a hand in the abduction, and who carried behind 
 him the evidence of his being a tiger-slayer. 
 
 Prince Kublai bit his lips with rage, when he saw that the 
 princess had, indeed, been rescued by him whom he had
 
 THE ROMANTIC ADVENTURES OF A SAILOR BOY. 93 
 
 charged w^th having been instrumental in conveying her away. 
 Paul, having recovered somewhat from the confusion he had 
 manifested while passing through the thronged street, rode 
 boldly up to the palace entrance, in spite of the tiger's carcass. 
 He vaulted from the saddle, and stepping beside Titczing's 
 horse to assist her in alighting, when Kublai-Keki stepped 
 before him and tendered his services. The Princess gave him 
 a scornful look, and waived him from her. She then extended 
 her hand towards Paul, who assisted her to dismount with as 
 much grace as if he had been the grand equerry of a queen. 
 Still clasping the princess's hand, he gallantly placed it in that 
 of her father, who once more pressed his daughter to his heart, 
 and wept tears of joy, while he invoked the gods to shower 
 blessings on the head of her preserver. 
 
 There was general gladness and gratulation throughout the 
 palace, but with one exception there was no joy in the wicked 
 breast of Kublai Keki. He yet, however, felt, himself secure 
 against any suspicions that he was the really guilty party. He 
 had, as he had flattered himself, provided against such a possi 
 bility ; for those who had executed his villany, but were de 
 feated at last, were so disguised that they could not be supposed 
 to belong to Kublai's retinue, and if they were discovered, he 
 could deny having any knowledge of the affair. Those who 
 had fallen in the act ot assassinating the soldiers on guard, were 
 declared by him to have been defending instead of attacking 
 the palace, and he was believed. 
 
 Still there was one thing that puzzled Kublai exceedingly, 
 and that was the possibility that the stranger youth, apparently 
 unarmed, should succeed in overpowering the stout and trusty 
 cavaliers to whom he had assigned the important duty of fleeing 
 with his coveted prize. That he had taken her by stratagem 
 or stealth he could not believe that he felt to be an impossi 
 bility. That he had taken her by force seemed probable, from 
 the fact that the steeds which bore the youth and the princess 
 to the palace, he recognized as belonging to his troop. 
 
 " He hath slain, too, the imperial tiger," muttered Kublai to 
 himself; "the great Koboe, were he the lowest man of the Ja 
 panese race, would confer princely honors upon him ; but he is 
 a Christian, and not of our race, and cannot be honored for so 
 rare an achievement. Ah !' it must be true what we have 
 heard of this nation, called American. They are jugglers, and 
 have dealings with hell's ministers! We will denounce him as 
 such to the governor ! Our personal safety maketh it neces 
 sary." 
 
 Muttering vengeance upon the head of our gallant sailor boy, 
 Kublai turned an his heel and strided with an air of assurance
 
 94 YANKEES IN JAPAN J OR, 
 
 into the reception room, whither the governor, the princess and 
 Paul had preeeded him. 
 
 " Most noble and munificent governor," spake the troubled 
 prince, "thou hast now satisfied thyself of that which we inti 
 mated to thee this morning." 
 
 " Give words to thy meaning, great prince," said Toki-Taka. 
 
 " Regarding the guilt of this American in stealing away thy 
 daughter." 
 
 " With thine own eyes thou didst behold him return her to 
 my arms." 
 
 "It maketh his crime no less that, through the fear of a cer 
 tain detection, he hath returned her; and art thou not satisfied 
 that of himself he hath not done these things, but through the 
 demons who doth his bidding?" 
 
 " Nay, most potent prince, I am not of thy mind touching 
 tfcose supernatural powers, thou dost suppose the American 
 people to possess." 
 
 "But he hath, in slaying the tiger, done that which raised 
 Tamo-Sama to imperial power!" 
 
 " True, Kublai, he hath slain the ferocious beast! By the 
 Sun-Goddess, 'tis wonderful ! But this, I doubt not, he wiL 
 explain satisfactorily. If not, prince, I will give good heed to 
 thy counsel. My daughter," continued the governor, "then 
 must interpret between me and this brave youth ; but first, re 
 late all thou knowest regarding thy abduction, who thou sus- 
 pectest, thy rescue, and the particulars of the slaying of the 
 tiger." 
 
 Titczing at once commenced her narrative, detailing all the 
 circumstances the most prominent of which are known to our 
 readers from the moment of her seizure, until her final resto 
 ration, excepting those which happened during her unconscious 
 ness. The conflict with the tiger, she related with the utmost 
 minuteness ; and after some conversation with Paul, who rela 
 ted to her the details of the part he had acted in the drama, 
 she exclaimed in a loud voice 
 
 " There stands the culprit ! the Prince Kublai-Keki !" 
 
 " The prince ?" ejaculated every one present with astonish 
 ment. 
 
 " Ay, the prince !" repeated Titczing. " I do charge him with 
 conceiving this infamous plot, and employing the wretches who 
 follow him to execute it !" 
 
 " By the fiends of the fiery mountains !" exclaimed Kublai ; 
 *'this charge is totally false !" 
 
 " Daughter," said the astonished governor; "this charge is 
 made against one of the most powerful princes of the emp : r
 
 THE ROMANTIC ADVENTURES OF \ &A(LOR BOY. 95 
 
 *nd his guilt must be established, or fearful will be Kubla*'i 
 vengeance !" 
 
 " His guilt, father, shall be made clear in due time," replied 
 the princess. 
 
 The conversation was here interrupted by the entrance of a 
 messenger, who announced the arrival of a detachment of the 
 governor's troops, bearing a wounded cavalier, clad in mail. 
 
 Kublai started at this announcement as if he had been stung 
 by the deadly cobra. The governor ordered the wounded man 
 to be brought before him. 
 
 The moment the princess caught sight of him, she ex 
 claimed 
 
 " 'Tis he ! 'tis he !" 
 
 " It is, indeed !" said Paul to the princess ; " I thought I had 
 killed him." 
 
 " Who, my child ?" asked the governor, eagerly. 
 
 "He who bore me away in the night. By the sainted Tin- 
 sio-dai-sin, he was the ruffian !" she declared. 
 
 " 'Tis too true," said the wounded cavalier ; " and he it was," 
 pointing to Paul, " who rescued her from me, and gave me my 
 mortal wound ! But 1 deserve to die!" 
 
 " Who prompted thee to do the hellish deed ?" questioned the 
 governor. 
 
 " My master ! the Prince Kublai-Keki!" 
 
 " Thou liest, wretch !" stoutly denied the prince, advancing 
 to cleave, with his keen-edged sword, the head from the dying 
 man's body ! But he was frustrated in his murderous attempt, 
 by being seized by two of his own attendants, who at once cor 
 roborated the cavalier's testimony, by declaring that they were 
 cognizant of their master's guilt, and asked pardon of the gov 
 ernor for not having divulged their master's plot in time to 
 frustrate the foul act! 
 
 " Traitors ! dastards ! fiends !" cried the enraged Knblai, 
 springing away from those who held him ; and ere they could 
 again get him into their power, he done that which every Ja 
 panese endeavors to do, when his guilt is exposed, to wit : 
 committed suicide, by making two slashes across his abdomen, 
 in the form of a cross, with his sword. 
 
 Thus died Kublai Keki ! who deserved a more ignominious 
 death. 
 
 After the prince's body had been removed, and also the 
 wounded cavalier, the governor expressed a desire to see the 
 wonderful pistol which had killed so many of his enemies, and 
 which had done the marvellous feat of shooting the tiger. Tito- 
 zing made known her father's wish to Paul, and he very readily 
 produced one of his revolvers, and placed it in his excellency 'i
 
 96 YANKEES IN JAFAN J OR, 
 
 hand. He examined it with great scrutiny, at the same tiiw* 
 uttering ejaculations of admiration at its exquisite finish and 
 ingenious construction. Returning it, he signified his desire to 
 witness its utility and the youth's skill in its use. 
 
 Paul- loaded the barrels in the presence of the governor and 
 " those about him ; then going to an open casement, he pointed 
 to the limb of an apricot tree, on which were five apricots, at a 
 distance of twelve or fourteen yards. In as many seconds he 
 discharged the six barrels, the sixth and last cutting off the 
 small limb as nicely as if it had been done with a knife. The 
 limb, -with the five apricots was then brought in, and to the 
 wonder and astonishment of all, each one of the apricots was 
 perforated by a bullet ! 
 
 " By the golden crane !" exclaimed Toki-Taki ; " 'tis won 
 derful !" 
 
 CHAPTER IX. 
 
 The rich Reward Return of the Embassy from Jeddo. 
 
 THAT evening, Toki-Taki, after he had partaken of his cup 
 of sackee and laid aside his amber-tipped chibouk, which he 
 had imported from Stamboul, he summoned to his private 
 cabinet, the Princess Titczing, and our hero, or the " Young 
 Tiger-Slayer," as the old governor persisted in calling Paul. 
 His excellency's mind had been deeply absorbed on a subject 
 of great moment to him. He had recovered his daughter in 
 that was a world of consolation ; but it did not delight his heart 
 to witness strong symptoms of an ardent passion kindling in 
 the breast of his beloved Titczing, for the gallant and brave 
 youth, to whom he was indebted for her preservation from a 
 worse fate than even death itself. That passion, he felt, must 
 at once be subdued, or the inevitable result, a certain separation, 
 /night forever destroy her peace of mind. The customs and 
 laws of Japan, aye, everything, forbade such an union ; and he 
 suspected that even the heroic youth himself had no very warm 
 attachment for the princess. Altogether, if she loved the youth 
 ever so warmly, the consummation of her desire, he saw, was 
 totally hopeless. This was the subject of his reflections when 
 Paul and Titczing together obeyed his summons. 
 
 ".Light of my eyes !" said Toki-Taki, addressing his daughter, 
 and taking her affectionately by both hands ; " you have escaped 
 great danger ; and our guest, the youthful sti^anger, deserveth 
 much at our hands. His reward, knowing thy grateful heart,
 
 THE ROMANTIC ADVENTURES OF A SAILOR BC f. 97 
 
 shall be pronounced by thee. For slaying the tiger, it is the 
 imperial prerogative that justice be done him !" 
 
 "Alas, father!" sighed Titczing, "that which I would be 
 stow, he would not accept." 
 
 " Hast offered him anything ?" ejaculated the governor. 
 
 " Nay, father." 
 
 " And what is that thou thinkest he would not accept ?" 
 
 " My hand," she replied, turning her eyes downward ; ' for 
 he possesseth my heart already." 
 
 " By the Grand Llama ! 'tis against our holy religion, 1 re 
 plied Toki-Taki, with some warmth., " Know ye not, my child, 
 that the great Mikado (ecclesiastical emperor) would degrade 
 us to a level with the lowest, if thy heart's wish were to be 
 gratified ?" 
 
 " True, father, and thy daughter hath not been unmindful of 
 these things," replied the princess with a truly discreet resigna 
 tion. " His reward, then, shall be that which he may himself 
 command." 
 
 Titczing then turned to Paul, who had been amusing himself 
 in examining a vase of silver fish, and, speaking in his native 
 tongue, she bade him but speak his wishes, and, if within the 
 lawful power of the Governor of Kiooisoo to bestow, they 
 should be gratified." 
 
 " Present him," said Paul, producing one of his revolvers, 
 " with this slight token of my esteem for his justice, and for his 
 kind hospitality to a stranger." 
 
 " By the golden crane !" exclaimed his excellency, receiving 
 the gift ; ''1 will accept of this wonderful weapon; and in re 
 turn I shall present him with that casket of precious stones, 
 which hath excited the envy of so many princes ! Bring it 
 hither, Titczing ! 
 
 The princess unlocked a golden escrutoire, by which she was 
 standing, and took therefrom a beautifully ornamented casket, 
 which of itself would have been a valuable gift. Then, by a 
 secret spring, the lid flew open, and displayed its dazzling 
 riches to the eyes of the sailor boy, poor until that moment, 
 but now a nabob in wealth, yet he knew not the value of that 
 casket. It was, indeed, a magnificent gift, for it contained 
 rare specimens of every gem known in the Japanese islands , 
 comprising the white and tinted diamond, the white and pink 
 pearl, the jasper, sapphire, onyx, topaz, amethyst, garnet, agate, 
 cornelian, and carbuncle. These gems, the finest collection 
 known, were tastefully arranged in golden compartments in 
 tke casket, and was said to have originally belonged to the 
 Khan of Tartary, from whom it was taken in the early part 
 of the sixteenth century, during the Tartar invasion of Niphou. 
 7
 
 %& YANKEES IN JAPAN J OR, 
 
 Paul, with grateful acknowledgments, accepted the present, 
 though hesitatingly, from the hands of the princess ; but had 
 he been aware of the immense value attached to it, he would 
 scarcely have allowed himself to receive it. Titczing, then 
 produced from the escrutoire, a magnificent necklace or chain 
 of a thousand pearls, arranged alternately pink and white each 
 pearl being the size of a buck-shot attached to which was an 
 artistic likeness of the princess herself. This she placed about 
 our hero's neck, and bade him wear it for her sake, until he 
 should wed, and then to bestow it upon his bride. 
 
 Titczing spoke in faltering tones, and turned away to con 
 ceal a tear which sprang unbidden to her eyes. There was, 
 truly, a struggle going on in her heart, but reason triumphed. 
 The youth could not wed her; religion, education, custom, 
 nature all were against it no, not nature, she reasoned 
 nature is on my heart's side all else is on the side of reason. 
 The struggle was but momentary, and she again appeared as 
 light-hearted and cheerful as ever. / 
 
 Little did Paul dream that he a poor sailor boy had 
 kindled a love-flame in the bosom of the fairest of Japan's 
 daughters. He believed that it was alone a grateful and not a 
 loving heart which had bestowed such princely gifts upon him, 
 and as such did he accept them. When he should wed, desired 
 the princess, then he was to place about his bride's neck, the 
 magnificent necklace of pearls, with Titczing's miniature at 
 tached ! This, thought Paul, is a singular request, and his 
 thoughts naturally reverted to a beloved one afar oft'. How 
 would his bride regard such a gift ? that was a question sug 
 gested to his mind which he could not answer, and he gazed 
 for several moments almost abstractedly upon the sweet sem 
 blance of her who stood before him. 
 
 Titczing, as if she could read what was passing in his brain, 
 and the thought occurring to her that in the final disposition of 
 the gift she had not advised judiciously, at once removed his 
 embarrassment, by telling him that he must regard her as a sis- 
 ier, and that an absent sister's likeness would by no means be 
 an inappropriate gift for his bride. 
 
 His bride! thought Paul. What a gift for her I love most! 
 but J Jive without hope. Ere this she may be the bride of 
 another ! 
 
 The possibility of such a thing cost him a pang ; and if not 
 at that moment another's, the probability or" such a thing occur 
 ring ere he should see his native land again, was too strong to 
 give joy to his heart. 
 
 The evening passed away, and father, daughter, and stranger, 
 separated for the night ; Paul to enjoy bright visions of love
 
 THE ROMANTIC ADVENTURES OF A SAILOR BOY 99 
 
 and home, and Titczing to dream of him, alas! of whom she 
 had already dreamed too much 
 
 Morning dawned, with its brightest beams, its sweetest per 
 fumes, and the joyous minstrelsy of its feathered warblers. At 
 an early hour, Paul and the princess had met, not by appoint 
 ment, but by accident, in the gardens of the palace ; they were 
 both abroad to enjoy the beauties of a fine Japanese morning, 
 and had taken the same path ; and now they rambled joyfully 
 together amid the most beautiful of Flora's productions, inha 
 ling the atmosphere ladened with their perfume, and rendering 
 them a topic of delightful discourse. As both supposed, this 
 was to be their last interview ; for on that day would expire 
 the limit wnich was given for the American ship to remain in 
 Japanese waters, and on that very morning was expected to 
 arrive the embassy, with the strangers, which the governor had 
 despatched to Ziogun's court. 
 
 But we forbear to tax the reader's patience by detailing an 
 hour's converse between this interesting pair. Suffice it to say 
 thai both frankly revealed the true feelings of their hearts, and 
 the result was, that they vowed to regard each other with fra 
 ternal affection as brother and sister, since every obstacle 
 stood in the way of a warmer passion ; and when far distant 
 from each other, they promised to hold communion by thought, 
 if not by letter. 
 
 Japanese appointments are seldom disregarded, and true to 
 the hour and almost to the minute, the embassy returned to 
 Nagasaki. Captain Harold and Zabdiel Stubbs, in good spirits, 
 alighted from the palankeen, in which they travelled only in 
 and out of cities, havkig performed the intermediate parts of 
 the journey on horseback and in barges. They were warmly 
 welcomed by the governor, who received, besides presents, 
 that which Toki-Taki esteemed of far greater value the thanks 
 and good wishes of the great Ziogun. As for our friends, they 
 cared less for the pleasure they afforded his imperial mightiness, 
 than they did for the knowledge they had gained of the resources 
 and people of this great nation, and for several valuable pre 
 sents which each had received. 
 
 The emperor, in his letter of acknowledgments to the gov 
 ernor, after remarking upon the valuable information he had 
 gained from the captain of the foreign ship, spoke of the amuse 
 ment his quaint companion (Zabdiel Stubbs) had afforded the 
 court : but, he added, his native independence had caused him 
 to violate all court customs and etiquette ; all of which his im 
 perial majesty had deigned to pardon. The truth was, Zab nad 
 no notion, because he was among the Japanese, of doing as the 
 Japanese do ; his bearing and actions were so anti-monarchio
 
 I 
 
 100 YANKEES IN JAfANJ OR, 
 
 in their character, even before the mightiest of the empire, that 
 he was in imminent peril of losing his head on more than one 
 occasion. 
 
 When the hour arrived for the departure of the Americans 
 from the palace of Nagasaki, the princess besought her father 
 and importuned him to use his influence to have our hero re 
 main until the sailing of the first Chinese junk for Canton, to 
 which port he might be sent, and thence to his own country, by 
 one of the American ships. This arrangement would require 
 his remaining in the country some two months longer, and then, 
 perhaps, reach his home sooner than by the crippled King 
 Philip. She had previously gained Paul's consent to this ar 
 rangement, providing the governor could gain his commander's 
 permission, ibr he was really desirous of remaining a short pe 
 riod, for the purpose of gaining some knowledge of the language, 
 of the manners and customs of the people, and such other in 
 formation as might be acquired. 
 
 Captain Harold gave his willing assent to the proposition, and 
 before the sun had reached the meridian, he and Zabdiel took 
 an affectionate leave of our hero, were escorted with great 
 pomp from the palace to the barge, thence down the harbor, 
 where the old King Philip was moored. The ship, which had 
 oeen almost newly re-rigged during her commander's absence, 
 was immediately got underweigh, and before sunset, was towed 
 seaward a distance of two leagues, by a detachment of the 
 guard-boats, detailed for that purpose, when they left her to 
 plough her own way across the broad Pacific. 
 
 CHAPTER X. 
 
 A Millionaire in trouble He calls upon his daughter to save him 
 from bankruptcy and disgrace The interview. 
 
 AGAIN swifter than the eagle's flight, or the lightning's flash 
 aye, as quick as thought, we would transport the reader's 
 imagination from Japan to our own New England metropolis. 
 
 It is now the fourth summer that Sylvia Seabury had been 
 domiciliated under her father's roof, since she bade adieu to the 
 sylvan scenes where she had passed her girlhood days, and 
 about eight months after the sailing of the King Philip from the 
 harbor of Nagasaki. During this period the acknowledged 
 belle of the city had been beleaguered by an admiring host of 
 beaux, all kneeling at her shrine, and offering up their heart's 
 devotions. Among the most importunate of these was Reubeo
 
 THE ROMANTIC ADVENTURES OF A SAILOR BOY. 101 
 
 Randall, Kis suit being encouraged by Sylvia's father, who had 
 been unceasing in his endeavors to prevail upon her to give 
 him that which so many coveted, namely, her hand. But our 
 heroine was deaf to all entreaties. She knew Reuben's char 
 acter too well, and although he had professed penitence to her 
 for his outrageous conduct towards Paul Payson, who, through 
 his means, had been reported dead in the public press ; and 
 from the fact that not a word had been heard from him by any 
 of his friends, since his escape from constable Spike, seemed to 
 corroborate the story of his death. His relatives mourned him 
 as dead, and so did Sylvia Seabury ; but the last spark of hope 
 had not gone out in her bosom ; it lingered there faintly, despite 
 the general belief 
 
 But why was Saul Seabury, the close-fisted merchant, so eager 
 to bestow his daughter's hand upon young Randall, when other 
 equally eligible matches presented themselves? methinks we hear 
 the reader inquire. " Thereby hangs a tale." Saul Seabury 
 was classed as a millionaire ; indeed, he was a millionaire, 
 measured by the ordinary standard ; i. e. one possessing a million, 
 half of a million, quarter of a million, or even one tenth of a 
 million of this world's .goods. Saul, at no period of his life, had 
 been worth more than* two hundred thousand dollars, although 
 in his hands he had upwards of a million. He was engaged 
 deeply in commercial speculations, besides being heavily in 
 volved in a " new city" enterprise, with that adroit schemer, 
 Ralph Randall, Esq. Ralph owned a large farm, which he had 
 wrested from an unfortunate victim of his avarice, through 
 which (after a long rain storm) ran a swiftly flowing stream, but 
 in a dry season it never failed to diminish to a little gurgling 
 brook, with hardly sufficient power to have turned a spinning- 
 wheel. This "immense water privilege," as Ralph termed it, 
 he had invited Seabury to view, and having managed to get 
 him upon the site of the " new city" in embryo, immediately 
 after a long rain-storm, the millionaire was favorably impressed, 
 which led to his subsequent involvedness to the unscrupulous 
 Ralph to the " tune" of upwards of fifty thousand dollars ! 
 This indebtedness, together with losses in "Norfolk County," 
 " Vermont Central," " Ogdensburg." and other stocks, placed 
 the reputed millionaire on the very verge of bankruptcy.. So 
 near was he to it, that if the claims of the country attorney 
 were pressed, ruin would be the consequence. Whether the 
 latter was aware of his power t<? crush the merchant or not, 
 we are unable to say; but it is certain his policy was to show 
 him leniency and he gave him to understand that if his son Ralph 
 succeeded in his suit with his daughter the claims should be 
 cancelled.
 
 102 YANKEES IN JAPAN OR, 
 
 Thus it was that Mr. Seabury used every method to induce 
 Sylvia to favor young Randall's suit ; first by gentle persuasion, 
 then by earnest entreaty, then by harsh expressions, and then 
 by threats of disclaiming her, and turning her from his doors. 
 
 But the last means had not yet been resorted to, and his pride 
 would have caused him. not to make use of that which would 
 excite Sylvia's commiseration, and through that bring about 
 the desired end, had not a most pressing exigency demanded it. 
 Yes, the hour had arrived when the attempt must be made ; 
 for another day, unless he succeeded, must bring ruin and dis 
 grace upon him. 
 
 Harassed and perplexed with the toils of the day, Mr. Sea- 
 bury returned to his princely mansion at an unusually late hour 
 of the afternoon. With great difficulty he had liquidated the 
 heavy demands of the day, but on the morrow he must raise 
 unusually large sums of money to take up the paper which 
 would then fall due. There was at the time a great panic in 
 the money-market, the banks had discounted to the utmost 
 limit, and the money-changers had the whole field to them 
 selves ; two per centum a month was a modest fleece, and in 
 most cases, on "short paper," three per cent, was the shave. 
 But what added to Seabury 's embarrassment more than all the 
 rest, Ralph Randall took this as the most proper occasion to 
 enforce his claim. He knew full well, if a crisis ever did oc 
 cur in the merchant's affairs, that was the time, and for that 
 time the attorney had waited many a day. 
 
 Clearly did Saul see " breakers ahead," and to avert the ter 
 rible calamity, he summoned to his private room his beauteous 
 daughter. What could she do to avert the anticipated crash ? 
 What skill in financiering did she possess to save that proud old 
 man from ruin from beggary? She had an unjewelled hand 
 to bestow; but with it no heart! This hand, it seems, was 
 valued at fifty thousand dollars ! an immense price, considering 
 there were no glittering gems upon it, and no heart to go with 
 it! With the heart, and without the jewels, it were, truly, 
 priceless a mine of wealth could not have purchased it ! But 
 the heart was gone, buried with the dead as the fair Sylvia 
 supposed. 
 
 " Father, 1 have come," said the daughter, entering the room, 
 timidly, for it was an unusual occur ence to be summoned to 
 his private room, unless upon matters particularly disagreeable 
 to her. 
 
 " 'Tis well be seated hem !" said he. " I I have some 
 thing of importance, immense importance to hem ! say to 
 you." 
 
 The old introduction, and the old story, thought Sylvia.
 
 THE ROMANTIC ADVENTURES OF A SAILOR BOY. 103 
 
 " In a word, daughter, the time has arrived when you must 
 consent to marry Reuben Randall!" 
 
 " MUST, father ?" 
 
 " Yes ; there is no alternative," said the father, in despairing 
 tones ? 
 
 "No alternative?" repeated Sylvia, manifesting some alarm. 
 
 " None none." 
 
 " What mean you, father?" 
 
 ' You must encourage the addresses of Reuben Randall 
 oi- " 
 
 The merchant hesitated. 
 
 "Speak, father!" urged Sylvia. 
 
 " Or your father will be ruined," gasped the old man. 
 
 "Ruined?" 
 
 " Yes, daughter, ruined ! irretrievably, hopelessly ruined !- 
 beggared ! all will go, fortune, honor " 
 
 " Nay, father," interrupted Sylvia, doubting the sanity of his 
 mind ; " you are rich there can be no danger of your being 
 reduced to poverty." 
 
 " Listen to me," resumed the excited merchant ; " I have of 
 late made enormous losses in stocks, and by the depreciation 
 of other property on my hands. In consequence of a panic in 
 the money market, I have been compelled to pay exorbitant 
 ~ates of interest; but in addition to all this, I owe young Ran 
 dall's father upwards of fifty thousand dollars. To-morrow is 
 the last day of grace. If this demand be not satisfied, then am 
 I a bankrupt! To raise the sum required is impossible ! But 
 you, Sylvia, can alone save me!" 
 
 " I comprehend, father!" said she, while tears started from 
 her eyes ; " my hand, then, is the price demanded ?" 
 
 " For his son for his son," said Seabury, hastily. 
 
 " It matters not I'd wed the father quite as readily as i 
 would the son." 
 
 " Why so, daughter ? He is young, well-favored and intel 
 ligent.'* 
 
 " True ; but the chances are that the son will long survive 
 the father ; therefore, do I much prefer the latter, though from 
 my very soul do I despise them both." 
 
 " A singular preference, truly, for a young girl to make." 
 
 " No, father ; if I am to be compelled to wed from among 
 those I love not, aye, utterly despise, let me be wedded to him 
 who has the fewest years to live!" 
 
 Sylvia spoke in tones of seriousness, and with such earnest 
 ness, that the old man's conscience was slightly touched. 
 
 " Alas ! I have no choice in the matter," said he ; " either 
 you must make up your mind to wed the son, or we are beg- 
 gars, forever '"
 
 104 YANKEES IN JAPAN J OR, 
 
 " Rather, father, let the alternative be to sell this palace of a 
 house : its magnificent furniture ; the valuable paintings on the 
 walls ; the silver plate in the closets ; the horses and carriages ; 
 discharge all the servants let all go; then retire to some 
 humble residence no matter how mean and I will follow 
 you, work for you, do anything to serve you, rather than to be 
 united to the unscrupulous wretch, who for five years hath been 
 the bane of my existence !" 
 
 '' My house, furniture, horses, equipage, and all, are mort 
 gaged already for nearly their entire value," replied the mer 
 chant ; " not a dollar more can be raised upon them." 
 
 " Then we are poor, indeed," said Sylvia ; " and is there no 
 possible escape from this calamity ?" 
 
 " You know all." 
 
 The interview was here interrupted by the entrance of a 
 servant, who announced that Mr. Randall was below. 
 
 " Go to him, father," said Sylvia, shuddering at the mere 
 mention of the hated name ; " in some manner contrive to 
 avoid or even delay the sacrifice you ask of rne !" 
 
 It was young Randall who had called, and who had a power 
 of attorney to act for his father. The interview was a short 
 one, and it resulted as might have been anticipated, (notwith 
 standing the most humiliating appeals from a proud merchant 
 to an impertinent puppy,) in no other alternative than those 
 which had already been demanded. 
 
 The moment his final answer was made, Sylvia, who had 
 heard all, walked into the room, and with a dignified but solemn 
 air, said, 
 
 " Mr. Randall, you have triumphed ! I will make the sacri 
 fice, on one condition !' 
 
 " Say not sacrifice, dearest Sylvia," said Reuben, " but name 
 the condition." 
 
 " That you, this very hour, cancel all demands which your 
 father holds against mine ; and, in return, I will give you my 
 written pledge, that at the altar of St. Paul's, at 12 o'clock, 
 midnight, one week from this night, this hand shall be thine !" 
 
 " Why at so late an hour ?" asked Randall. 
 
 " Because it suits my humor," replied Sylvia. " Unnatural 
 deeds should be performed while the world is sleeping !'* 
 
 " Speak not thus, charming, adorable Sylvia," said Reuben. 
 
 "Out, flatterer!" exclaimed Sylvia, with indignation; "do 
 jou accept the proposition ?" 
 
 " Yes !'' tartly replied Randall, taking from his pocket-book 
 a number of notes. " Let the contract be prepared." 
 
 A justice of the peace was sent for. and the document was 
 drawn up, and read by the magistrate to the parties.
 
 THE ROMANTIC \DVENTURES OF A SAILOR EOT, 105 
 
 At Sylvia's request, a clause was added, which annulled the 
 contract, provid-ng the bridegroom was not at the altar to re 
 ceive his bride, at the hour and minute designated. The con 
 tract was duly signed, the notes cancelled, and Mr. Randall 
 and the magistrate left the mansion. 
 
 The reputed millionaire was saved from bankruptcy ! 
 
 
 CHAPTER XI. 
 
 Zabdiel turns up a Trump A Genuine Yankee Trick A 
 Shipwreck Conclusion. 
 
 SWIFTLY flew the hours which intervened between the night 
 of the betrothal and the night appointed for the nuptials. Time's 
 relentless car moves on with a celerity only opposite to our de 
 sires. With the happily betrothed its wheels revolve slowly ; 
 with the unhappily betrothed they roll on swiftly. Five days 
 they seemed to Sylvia but so many hours of that week of 
 misery had passed away. Our heroine was seated alone, amid 
 folds of rich drapery, looking forth, from the parlor window of 
 that proud looking mansion, upon the throngs of happy beings 
 who were enjoying a promenade along the mall, running 
 parallel with Bacon-street. It was a lovely moonlight night, 
 and the scone before her seemed all joy, which only caused her 
 to feel more keenly the misery which pervaded her very soul. 
 While contemplating the abhorred scene, which in a few hours 
 would be enacted, and in which she was to play a prominent 
 part, her attention was suddenly arrested by hearing some one 
 on the walk inquire of another, in which house Mr. Seabury 
 lived." 
 
 ''You are directly before it now!" answered the person 
 accosted. 
 
 "Wai, I know'd it wur sumwhar on Bacon-street; but, by 
 whalebone, I began to think I should never run afoul of it 
 Kin you tell me if old Seabury 's darter 's living ?" 
 
 " Oh, yes, and she's soon to be married." 
 
 " Married ?" ejaculated the questioner. " What faller's ben 
 sparking up to her ? who 's gunto git her ?" 
 
 " A young lawyer by the name of Randall, I believe." 
 
 "Rewb Randle, I'll bet a whale ! Wai, may I be swallyed 
 as Joner was, if tain't an all-fired shame, ef that mean, scaly, 
 scurvy, sneaking son of a ravenous old land-shark is gunto 
 marry the pootyest gal in seventeen countries. Wai, .there's 
 no tellin' how often the gals will about ship, but, that
 
 106 YANKEES IN JAPAN J OR, 
 
 Seab'ry would ever sail on that tack, 1 did'nl believe, may 1 be 
 drowned in blubber if I did !" 
 
 The man addressed passed on, leaving Zabdiel Stubbs (whom 
 our readers have possibly recognized) uttering'all sorts of ex 
 clamations, peculiar to a Yankee whaleman, to express his 
 astonishment that " that gal cud ever gin up the noble Paul for 
 that mean skunk, Rewb." 
 
 Notwithstanding the unwelcome intelligence he had received, 
 he vowed he'd " see the gal, and ef she owned up to it, he'd gin 
 her a piece o' his mind." With this determination he mounted 
 the stone steps, and finding the door minus a " knocker," he 
 rapped with his bony knuckles, not being "posted" in the mat 
 ter of bell-pulls. Sylvia answered the summons herself, for a 
 portion of the stranger's expressions had fallen upon her ears, 
 and she had a curiosity to know who it was that must have 
 once known her. 
 
 " How d'ye do? Is Miss Seab'ry to hum ?" asked Zab, the 
 moment the door was opened. 
 
 " I am Miss Seabury." 
 
 " Dew tell ? I wanter know ? haow you've grown !" saw* 
 Zabdiel in a breath. 
 
 " Will you please walk in, sir," said Sylvia. 
 
 "Seein 1 it's yew, I don't keer 'f I dew." 
 
 Zab reeled his way after Sylvia into the magnificent parlor. 
 
 " Wai, I dew declare for't, this 's eenamost as harnsum at 
 the Emp'ror o' Japan's palace, by ivory !" said Zab, staring 
 about with wonder at the magnificently furnished apartments ; 
 then seating himself at Sylvia's request, he remarked: "You 
 don't 'pear to know me ?" 
 
 " No, sir ; 1 have not that pleasure." 
 
 " Wai, I did'nt s'pect you did ; nobody duz ; I don't skeercely 
 know myself. You see I've jest got hum from a blubber- 
 huntin' vije, and there's nothin' on airth '11 change a man's 
 figger-head quicker than bobbin' up an' down, night and day 
 Sundys inclewded, arter Kamscatsky whales. But to cum to 
 the pint at once, Miss Seab'ry, I had little or sunthin' to say to 
 you, but a chap outside tells me you're gunto marry that that 
 Rewb Randle ?" 
 
 "Sir?" exclaimed Sylvia, indignantly; "will you please to 
 make known your errand here." 
 
 *' Wai, as I meant to say, if that chap outside hadn't told the 
 trewth, rnebbe you'd be willing to hear from a pertic'ler friend 
 o' mine, who loves you better than a mouse loves cheese ; and 
 folks up aour way used to say that he didn't love you any bettei 
 than you loved him. But if you're gunto marry that other chap 
 why I daon't know as haow I've got anything more to say." 
 
 *' Of whom, sir, do you soeak ?" inquired Sylvia, eagerly.
 
 THE ROMANTIC ADVENTUKEd OF A SAILOR lUY. 107 
 
 " Of Paul Payson, to be sure." 
 " Then he is not dead ?" 
 *' Dead !" who said he was dead ?" 
 " It was so reported in the papers." 
 "When?" 
 " Ten months ago !" 
 
 " Wai," said Zab, " 't wouldn't been very strange, for 'cord 
 ing to the dangers he has weathered, lie orter ben dead abaout 
 fourteen times ; but I parted comp'ny with him eight months 
 ago." 
 
 " Where ?" 
 
 "Off to Japan, where I left him 'live and kickin', and now 
 it's 'baout time he was to hum ; but he'd better stay away, for 
 if he hears that you've gin yerself away to that Rewb Randle, 
 his heart '11 snap like a topmast in a harrycane !" 
 
 "Alas! alas!" she cried ; "'tis true that 1 have promised to 
 marry the man I despise ! but," she added, her voice sinking to 
 a whisper, " circumstances, beyond my control, have forced 
 me thus to sacrifice myself." 
 
 " Then you don't love that pesky Rewb, arter all?" 
 '' Frorp my soul I despise him !" 
 "And you have not forgotten Paul ?" 
 "A woman can never forget the one she most loves." 
 "Then it's all right," said Zab, manifesting great joy, as he 
 drew from beneath his blue jacket, a sealed packet, much soiled, 
 and giving it to Sylvia ; " when he and I parted company, he 
 said, if Sylvia Seabury had not forgotten her old playmate, 
 Paul, to give her this ; I promised to dew it, if ever I got hum ; 
 and here it is. Now, about your promise to marry that sar- 
 pent, Rewb; can't we manage to get the weather-guage of 
 him? What kinder lay did you take him on ?" 
 "Do you mean the conditions of the betrothal?" 
 " Aye, Miss ?" 
 
 "His part of the contract he has fulfilled. It now remains 
 for me to repair to St. Paul's church, day after to-morrow 
 night, at the hour of midnight, when the ceremony is to be per 
 formed. By the terms of the contract if he be not there to re 
 ceive his unwilling bride, when the midnight clock has tolled, 
 then does he forfeit all claims to my hand." 
 
 " Depend on't, he'll be on hand, .ike Mother Carey's Chickens 
 in a gale o' wind, ' said Zab ; " I'd like to run afoul o' him 
 'bout fifteen minutes afore the time, I'd sarve him worse thai) 
 we did old Spike. W T here, Miss, duz Rewb board ?" 
 " That I am unable to tell you," answered Sylvia. 
 " Wai, never mind ; I ony want to gin him a piece o' my 
 mind." said Zabdiel, rising to leave. "'Fere I leave for
 
 108 YANKEES in JAPAN; OR, 
 
 mebbe I'll call again ; and as for that little affair at the church, 
 p'raps sumthing kin be done ; stranger things hev ben done." 
 
 " But who have I to thank for bringing me this packet, and 
 who takes so deep an interest in me." 
 
 " My name ! I forgot to tell you, by ivory ! "Tis Stubbs 
 Zabdiel Stubbs. I'm stoppin' at the Sailors' Hum, where you 
 can send ef you should happen to want my sarvices." 
 
 " Thanks, Mr. Stubbs you are exceedingly kind," said 
 Sylvia, as she followed the weather-beaten Yankee whaleman 
 to the door, and bade him " good-night." 
 
 It wanted fifteen minutes of the midnight hour, when Saul 
 Seabury, with his daughter, Sylvia, leaning upon his arm, 
 together with other members of his family, walked up the broad 
 aisle of St. Paul's Church, and stood before the altar. She, 
 who was arrayed in bridal apparel, sobbed violently. 
 
 The bridegroom had not yet come ! 
 
 The minutes passed but slowly by. Five, ten, and even 
 twelve had gone, and still he came not. The surpliced rector 
 came from the vestry, ready to perform the solemn service 
 the bridegroom was not there ! Suddenly, the sobbings ceased, 
 and all was still as death ! The bride now gazed almost 
 breathlessly at the hands of the church clock the minute hand 
 even seemed to stand still yet she heard its slow tickings, and 
 each stroke seemed to vibrate heavily upon her heart! Sixty 
 seconds ! oh ! how slowly they drag on ! The rumbling of 
 wheels was heard in the distance ! nearer and nearer louder 
 and louder 
 
 The Park-street clock strikes ! slowly and solemnly but 
 oh, how surely ! 
 
 " Twelve o'clock, and the bridegroom is not here to claim 
 his bride ! The contract of betrothal is forfeited !" said the jus 
 tice who had drawn up and signed and sealed the compact. 
 
 Then followed a scream of excessive joy, which echoed 
 throughout the walls of that holy temple, and Sylvia Seabury 
 fainted in her father's arms ! She was borne to the carriage, 
 conveyed home, and when restored, her first words were 
 
 " Oh, God ! I thank Thee for saving me from a worse fate 
 than death itself." 
 
 But why did the bridegroom fail to come, and receive his 
 victim ? 
 
 At the very moment the bride appeared at the altar of St. 
 Paul's, a carriage, drawn by fleet horses, left the new hotel in 
 Bowdoin-square. In that carriage sat the bridegroom, with a 
 malicious smile upon his dark features. 
 
 The vehicle rolled rapidly on. It was a dark and gloomy
 
 THE ROMANTIC ADVENTURES OF A SAILOR BOY. 109 
 
 night ; the rain pattered upon the deserted pavement, and the 
 wind god howled fearfully among the huge elms skirting the 
 common. The carriage reached King's Chapel, when one 
 corner of it fell with a crash to the earth, and one of its hinder 
 wheels rolled into the gutter! The driver reined up the steeds 
 leaped from the box and, opening the coach-door, allowed 
 his frightened passenger to alight. 
 
 " Damnation, driver, what means this ?" he demanded in a 
 rage. 
 
 " May I be harpooned, if one o' the starn wheels isn't un 
 shipped," answered Zabdiel Stubbs, who had, by a shrewd 
 piece of management, become coachman for this occasion. 
 
 "How damnably provoking !" said Randall; "I suppose I 
 may as well go to Saint Paul's a-foot, now?" 
 
 " Wai, you'll spile that bran-new rig ef you dew. I hain't 
 no umbrill. I guess as haow we can ship the wheel in 'bout 
 tew minits, then III crack on all sail. Yeou jest bear a hand 
 on this ere main-boom there, naow hold on while I get the 
 wheel and ship it that's all right you can get aboard while 1 
 screw her up, ' said Zub, slily producing the nut of the box from 
 his pocket. " It goes all-fired hard it wants slushing." 
 
 " How slow you are hurry, hurry ! Damnation, 1 shall be 
 late !" said the enraged and impatient Randall. 
 
 " Haste makes waste, yer know," replied Zab, grunting as 
 if he were exerting himself to the utmost. "I'm dewin' it as 
 fast as I kin screwin' with the fingers 's tarnal slow work ef 
 I'd a wrench I'd screw 'er on in the flap of a whale's tail." 
 
 Our nautical Jehu at length finished the job and mounted 
 the box. 
 
 " Drive for your life !" cried Randall, absolutely perspiring 
 with impatience. 
 
 " I'll put the animals through," said Jehu, cracking the lash 
 smartly over the horses' back, and off they travelled upon the 
 run ! 
 
 The Park-street clock tolled the midnight hour ! 
 
 " Hold on ! hold on, driver ! This is the place !" screamed 
 Randall. 
 
 " Whoa ! whoa !" cried Zab, at the same time giving the 
 animals full rein. 
 
 " Hell and furies ! why don't you stop ?" demanded the cho 
 leric passenger, as they were rapidly leaving St. Paul's behind 
 them. 
 
 "Can't hold 'em!" shouted Jehu. "The tarnal critters 
 will go." 
 
 Onward rolled the vehicle in spite of the profane protesta 
 tions of the passenger. Jehu, thinking he had gone fare nough,
 
 YANKEES IN JAPAN \ OR, 
 
 after passing the entire length of the common, reined up the 
 panting steeds, and, turning round, he drove back, and halted 
 in front, of St. Paul's, and landed his passenger on the sidewalk. 
 
 The lights no longer burned at the altar ! The rector and 
 the bridal party had gone! The sexton had closed the doors 
 of the sanctuary ! 
 
 What a hell of passion raged in the heart of the disappointed 
 bridegroom ! How awful were the oaths and imprecations 
 heaped upon Zabdiel ; but he heeded them no more than he 
 did the idle wind ! Yet, for all his display of passion, he attri 
 buted his misfortunes of the night to accident and not to design. 
 
 On the next day, the hero of the night called on Sylvia, and, 
 in his peculiar style, related to her the part he had acted in the 
 adventures of the previous night. Her gratitude to him knew 
 no bounds, and she insisted upon his accepting a rich reward ; 
 but he would receive nothing, declaring that the " upsetting of 
 his apple-cart," was satisfaction enough for him. 
 
 Another, and still another year had passed away, and the 
 friends of Paul Payson had had no tidings from him. 
 
 At this period, the merchant Seabury, having business in 
 Europe, embarked in one of his own ships, in company with 
 his daughter Sylvia. On the passage they encountered a ter 
 rible gale the ship was dismasted, and she also sprang a leak ; 
 and it was only by incessant working of the pumps that she 
 could be kept afloat. On the third day the wind lessened, but 
 the waves rolled mountains high.. Towards noon a sail was 
 descried, bearing towards the water-logged packet. The ship 
 proved to be the Telemachus from Canton, via Calcutta, and 
 bound to New York ; the captain of which, on discovering 
 human beings aboard the hulk, hesitated as to whether or not he 
 ought to hazard the lives of any of his own crew in an effort 
 to rescue the helpless ones aboard the wreck. At length, one 
 of the passengers, a young and active man, prevailed upon him 
 to send a boat. No sooner was it lowered, than the young 
 stranger leaped aboard and shipped the rudder. Four men 
 manned the oars, and they put off for the ship over the foam- 
 crested billows, steered by the gallant passenger. They 
 reached the lee-side of the hulk, and five passengers, including 
 two ladies with veiled faces, succeeded in getting into the boat, 
 and were soon upon the deck of the Indiaman, offering up 
 prayers to God that their lives had been spared. The wind 
 now subsiding into a gentle breeze, comparatively, the boat's 
 crew, with their volunteer coxswain, succeeded in transfer- 
 ng every man from the wreck to the Indiaman. 
 
 Soon the latter bore away on her course, and the rescued
 
 THE ROMANTIC ADVENTURES OF A SAILOR BOY. Ill 
 
 passengers desired to see the brave seamen who had risked 
 their own lives to save them. 
 
 " To this young gentleman, my passenger," said the com 
 mander of the Telernachus, turning to Paul, who was wiping 
 the perspiration from his brow, " more than to any else, do 
 vou owe your present safety. I confess, I feared to send a 
 boat, but his advice gained my consent, and he was the 
 first to volunteer, and most bravely did he acquit himself." 
 
 " Nay, captain, you do me more than justice," said the 
 young man, modestly ; " the seamen deserve praise rather 
 than I." 
 
 As he spoke, Sylvia Seabury gazed earnestly ; nto his noble 
 countenance. 
 
 "That voice! those features !" she whispered to herself 
 stretching eagerly forward. 
 
 The young stranger caught that earnest gaze. 
 
 " Paul !" she uttered, audibly but faintly. 
 
 "Sylvia! Sylvia !" responded our adventurous hero, and in 
 another moment she was clasped in his embrace. 
 
 Of course there was not a little surprise manifested, especially 
 by Mr. Seabury, who was now first introduced to Paul Payson 
 by his own daughter. 
 
 Mutual explanations followed. Paul narrated his remarka- 
 ole adventures to Sylvia, and Sylvia in return related hers, par 
 ticularly that in which Stubbs performed so important a part. 
 
 But Paul's recent career is yet unknown to our readers. Sub 
 sequent to the " King Philip's" departure from Nagasaki Bay, he 
 remained a voluntary prisoner within Toki-Taki's palace walls, 
 a period of four months, during which time, by diligent study, 
 he acquired considerable knowledge of the Japanese tongue, 
 with the assistance of the intelligent princess, who was alter 
 nately his teacher and his pupil. This period elapsing, he took 
 passage in a Chinese junk for Canton, and, on sailing, the gov 
 ernor put on board, in his name, two boxes, which he afterwards 
 ascertained to be filled with ingots x of gold and silver. The 
 princess, too, gave him rich presents at parting. After a bois 
 terous and protracted passage, the junk arrived at Canton. For 
 six month* our hero remained at the English factory, when he 
 took passage in an American ship for New York, by the way 
 of Calcutta, from which latter port the ship did not depart, un 
 til several months had elapsed after her arrival. 
 
 The Telernachus a f . length reached New York, and landed 
 our hero and heroine in safety. A few weeks afterwards, on a 
 serene and beautiful day, at the meridian hour, a nuptial cere 
 mony was performed at Saint Paul's Church, in the presence 
 of a numerous assemblage of interested spectators. We scarcely
 
 112 YANKEES IN JAPAN. 
 
 need write thnt Paul Payson was the bridegroom and Sylvia 
 Seabury the bride. Bevsides placing the bridal ring upon her 
 finger, he encircled her neck with the chain of a thousand 
 pearls, to which hung the "counterfeit presentment" of his 
 aJopted sister the Princess Titczing. 
 
 Prior to the consummation of our hero's happiness, he visited 
 his native village, redeemed the old homestead from the clutches 
 of Ralph Randall, and placed money in his father's hand to 
 commence a suit against the village oppressor. The result 
 was, Randall was tried and convicted for fraud ; but, ere the 
 verdict was rendered, he made his escape, and has not since 
 been heard from, leaving his bondsmen minus some five thous 
 and dollars. His son, Reuben, also decamped, and all accounts 
 agree that he was recently engaged in keeping a " gambling 
 hell" in California. 
 
 Paul also purchased a farm, the deed of which he gave to 
 Zabdiel ; he also presented him with his portion of the proceeds 
 of the whaling voyage, which, together with the money he had 
 himself saved, enabled him to stock it with a fine herd of cattle, 
 horses, sheep, etc. We will not omit the fact that the packet 
 which was entrusted to him by Paul, contained the casket of 
 precious gems, the gift of Toki-Taka. 
 
 Tn conclusion, we would say to those who have taken pains 
 to gather information respecting Japan, that, except in some 
 leading features, they must have been struck with the many 
 discrepancies and contradictions, of various authors, in their 
 descriptions of this great empire. These arise from the fact 
 that Japanese laws and customs are not, as many writers 
 aver, as " unalterable as the laws of the Medes and Persians ;" 
 and, as we have gathered our facts chiefly from sailors, who 
 have in late years been shipwrecked upon thfr Japanese coast, 
 we have, in some particulars, relied upon their statements rath 
 er than upon the views of those who wrote a century ago, and 
 from whose writings all the modern books on Japan are com 
 piled. The history of this great empire is, truly "a sealed 
 book ;" but the day is not far distant when that seal will be 
 broken, and then we shall have something more to write of 
 " Yankees in Japan !" 
 
 THE END
 
 3268 I
 
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